AQO 1444/22-27 Oral question to the Minister of Finance
To ask the Minister of Finance for her assessment of the effectiveness of the Northern Ireland Civil Service Dignity at Work policy.
Asked by Connie Egan MLA on 16 January 2025
- Answered
- Oral
- Tabled
- 16 January 2025
- Answer due by
- 28 January 2025
- Answered
- 28 January 202512 days after tabling
- Department
- Department of Finance
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The Civil Service is committed to creating and sustaining an environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
The Dignity at Work policy effectively supports this aim by making staff aware of the types of behaviour that might cause offence, highlighting the sources of information and assistance available and the informal and formal procedures for dealing with inappropriate behaviour.
The effectiveness of the Dignity at Work policy is evidenced by:
the relatively low number of civil servants who have raised formal dignity at work complaints in each of the past three financial years when set against total staff numbers of 24,000, and
the success of the in-house mediation service which enabled informal resolution in 95% of mediations and avoided cases progressing to formal dignity at work complaints.