Civil Service Staff Survey

In 2009 the first Civil Service-wide staff survey was conducted.  A common set of questions was used in all departments and agencies. 

The Commissioners welcomed the inclusion of a number of questions on the Civil Service Code. Civil servants were questioned on their knowledge of the Civil Service Code and of local arrangements for raising concerns. They were also questioned on their confidence that a concern would be properly investigated.

Responses were received from approximately 340,000 civil servants.

The results for the whole Civil Service have been published.  The results for the questions on the Civil Service Code are shown in the table below.

This direct information from civil servants on their knowledge of the Code will compliment the results from our Civil Service Code audit.  Our audit tells us what departments say they are doing, and the survey tells us what civil servants say they know and believe.

We are encouraged by these results. In the context of the full survey results, the figure of 75% for awareness of the Code is a healthy result. There is no room for complacency, but this does seem to reflect a good level of knowledge of the Code throughout the Civil Service. The figure of 58% expressing confidence in the outcome of a Code investigation compares favourably with other judgements and perceptions of the performance of senior management in the full survey results. We will monitor results from future years with the hope and expectation that this percentage will increase.

This year’s survey results should provide very valuable baseline data against which we can assess progress in future years.