Bullying/Harassment (Hansard, 26 January 2004)

§ Mr. Sutcliffe

The Government take bullying at work very seriously and believe that employees should be able to work without fear of being bullied or harassed by employers, fellow employees or anybody else.

There is a safety net of legislation already in existence that employees can turn to. This includes the: Sex Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act, Disability Discrimination Act, Protection from Harassment Act, Health and Safety Act, Employment Rights Act and the Employment Act 2002.

In addition New Employment Equality Regulations came into force last December protecting those experiencing discrimination, harassment and victimisation at work on grounds of sexual orientation or religion or belief. We are working to support the dissemination of high quality best practice information on the new regulations to employers, individuals and—importantly—advice giving organisations and agencies through the funding we have allocated in the current financial year.

The Health and Safety Executive are producing a set of management Standards. The Standards are designed to provide a yardstick for organisations by which they can gauge the levels of stress and other associated problems among staff thereby helping them to identify where action is required. One of these, the Relationship Management Standard, focuses on bullying.

Assisting with the development of best practice operations is a group, under ACAS management called Race and Equality Advisory Service (REAS). This team of advisers deliver practical, best practice equality advice to organisations. This complements ACAS's wider role of providing services to organisations to help their businesses to flourish.

Continuing the promotion of best practice is the Partnership at Work Fund administered by DTI. This has provided grants to support organisations wishing to focus on best practice initiatives specifically encouraging employees and employers to work together to resolve issues. A number of projects have focused on reducing bullying, while others have included it as part of their wider objectives.

Bullying and harassment is an area of growing importance in the work of ACAS. It uses multiple channels for dissemination of guidance including: publications (available in hard copy and through the internet); face to face training and seminars; advice via the ACAS National Helpline; and also more in depth focused work within workplaces Two publications—'Bullying and Harassment: A Guide for Managers and Employers' and 'Bullying and Harassment: A Guide for Employees' with an annual distribution of approximately 26,000 copies offer guidance and form the basis of training programmes and seminars organised by ACAS.

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In 2003, around 200 seminars and training events were run focusing on the subject of bullying and harassment. The feedback from delegates to ACAS events is overwhelmingly positive with, across the board, 97 per cent. reporting that they were satisfied with the quality and content of their training. Follow up work with delegates in 2003, around 200 seminars and training events were run focussing on the subject of bullying and has also shown that the guidance offered by ACAS has positive and lasting benefits with 60 per cent. saying that they review policy and practice after attending ACAS events and around a third actually implemented change or introduced new policies after attending events.

The ACAS National Helpline also plays an important role in disseminating guidance. Around 600 calls are received monthly on this issue. Overall the feedback on the helpline is found to be extremely beneficial with 92 per cent. reporting satisfaction with the service received from the Helpline and 84 per cent. of callers reporting that they found the information provided was valuable in fully answering their inquiry.