19. There is a whistleblower hotline at my organisation.

Public Sector Fraud Awareness Survey - Findings: Fraud detection.

Observation:

Pie chart of Question 19: There is a whistleblower hotline at my organisation.

74.7% of respondents said that their organisation did not have a whistleblower hotline.

The lack of a whistleblower hotline was reflected across all roles and levels of organisations and all sectors.

Organisations with a whistleblower hotline reported more instances of fraud. Of those that answered “Yes” to this question, 38% reported instances of fraud in the past 2 years, compared with 21% of those that answered “No”.

What some respondents have said:

“There haven't been any whistleblower, theft or fraud cases surface in the three years I have been in the organisation.”

“While there is not a whistleblower hotline, there are nominated staff in the policy that can be approached to raise issues under this policy.”

“While we do not have a "whistle blower" hot line we have a Protected Disclosure Policy that sets out the approach for staff that may have the need to lodge a formal compliant.”

PwC comment:
A well-communicated whistleblower system is one of the best tools that an organisation can employ to help mitigate the risks of fraud and other reputational harm. However, the success (or otherwise) of a whistleblower system depends to a large degree on how it is set up, operated, communicated and accepted by the organisation’s staff.

“We are a small organisation and some processes such as whistle blower hotline are not necessarily needed.”

“Too small to have a whistleblower hotline - but all staff have access to the chairman and Board directors, including work and cell-phones and also can access them anonymously.”

“Current policy on protected disclosure is in draft form. Hotline is though Crimestoppers dedicated line but would hope that internal reporting policy will be the primary route for disclosure.”

  Yes No Don’t know Total Count
Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director/Principal 45 12% 320 84% 18 5% 383
Member of the senior executive/leadership team or equivalent 78 16% 362 74% 50 10% 490
Line manager (if not one of the above) 23 11% 153 70% 43 20% 219
Administration/Support Services 16 8% 142 71% 42 21% 200
Operational staff (e.g. Teacher, Analyst, Advisor, Technician, Officer, Engineer, Accountant) 4 3% 90 66% 42 31% 136
Total 166 12% 1067 75% 195 14% 1,428
  Yes No Don’t know Total Count
Central Government              
Autonomous Crown Entities 8 15% 42 78% 4 7% 54
Central Government - Other 3 7% 35 78% 7 16% 45
Crown Agents or Companies  11 13% 64 74% 12 14% 87
Crown Research Institutes 8 21% 28 74% 2 5% 38
District Health Boards 11 16% 43 61% 16 23% 70
Government Departments 20 14% 93 64% 33 23% 146
Independent Crown Entities 1 3% 29 78% 7 19% 37
Māori Trust Boards 0 0% 11 100% 0 0% 11
Rural Education Activities Programmes 0 0% 11 100% 0 0% 11
State-Owned Enterprises 9 19% 29 62% 9 19% 47
Tertiary Education Institutions 22 24% 53 58% 16 18% 91
Sub-Total 93 15% 438 69% 106 17% 637
  Yes No Don’t know Total Count
Local Government              
Airports 1 5% 13 68% 5 26% 19
Council Controlled Organisations or Council Controlled Trading Organisations 10 13% 59 79% 6 8% 75
Energy Companies 6 21% 21 75% 1 4% 28
Fish and Game Councils 0 0% 7 88% 1 13% 8
Licensing and Community Trusts 0 0% 9 100% 0 0% 9
Local Authorities 22 13% 128 76% 19 11% 169
Local Government - Other  0 0% 11 100% 0 0% 11
Port Companies 0 0% 2 100% 0 0% 2
Sub-Total 39 12% 250 78% 32 10% 321
               
Schools 34 7% 379 81% 57 12% 470
Total 166 12% 1,067 75% 195 14% 1,428
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