THE head of the union which represents people working in the civil service has said his members have alleged several government ministers behaved inappropriately towards them.
On Monday, Rishi Sunak defended Dominic Raab after the deputy prime minister was accused of bullying and demeaning civil servants in his office.
Around 100,000 civil servants recently voted to strike in a dispute over pay, pensions and jobs.
General secretary of the FDA union Dave Penman was asked by Kay Burley on Sky News if his members had alleged other ministers had behaved “inappropriately towards them”.
Penman replied: “Yes. I’m not going to go into speculating how many.”
He was then asked to provide some detail on the kind of behaviour being talked about and whether or not it was bullying.
Penman continued: “Yeah. Most of what comes to us is inappropriate behaviour in terms of ministers, whether it’s losing their temper, shouting, getting frustrated.
“Government is a tough place to work both for civil servants and ministers, they know that, but at times that behaviour can then verge into what people would characterise as bullying and just like any other workplace that needs an effective mechanism to address it and that’s not what we have.”
#KayBurley - So there are several other ministers in Rishi Sunak's government who have have behaved inappropriately towards civil servants? Dave Penman(General Secretary FDA Union) - Yes#KayBurley - Is that bullying? Dave Penman - Yes...#BBCBreakfast pic.twitter.com/bqyHNWx3Ef
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) November 15, 2022
Speaking about Raab, the Prime Minister denied knowing about any formal complaints after it emerged Sunak's deputy has reportedly been nicknamed “The Incinerator”.
Penman was then asked about the impact this was having on members. He said: “It blights careers.
“People end up leaving the job or leaving the post that they’re in.
"If you imagine you’re a civil servant, to work with ministers, to work at the heart of government, it’s actually the pinnacle of your career.
“That’s what you have wanted to do. You want to work in public service and work close with ministers and help deliver the government’s agenda.
“So for those who have to leave because that’s the only choice that they’ve got, they either put up with that behaviour or they leave, it’s hugely damaging to their careers and of course to their lives because bullying can have a huge impact on people’s lives.”
Penman has previously called on Sunak to appoint a new independent adviser on ministers’ interests with the post having been vacant since Lord Geidt quit in June.
In a letter to the PM, Penman said: “As we have seen over the last few weeks, there is increasing scrutiny over the conduct of ministers and, in particular, accusations of bullying – behaviour that has no place in a modern workplace.”
Elsewhere, it's been alleged that Raab was so demeaning and abrasive to junior colleagues that many were “scared” to enter his office.
Lord McDonald, who was the Foreign Office’s permanent secretary when Raab led the department, said the minister “couldn’t be made to see” the impact he was having on staff.
“Colleagues did not complain to me formally, it was kind of their professional pride to cope, but many were scared to go into his office,” the crossbench peer told Times Radio.
“His sort of defence was that he treated everybody in the building in the same way. He was as abrasive and controlling with junior ministers and senior officials as he was with his private secretaries.”
A spokesman for Raab said: “Dominic has acted with professionalism and integrity in all of his government roles.
“He has an excellent record of driving positive change in multiple government departments by working well with officials.
“He holds everyone, and most of all himself, to the high standards that the British people would expect of their government.”
