Fast Stream Situational Judgement (Public Sector Scenarios) 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: You receive a freedom of information request for documents that contain some exempt material and some non-exempt material. What is the correct approach?
- Release the non-exempt material with exempt sections appropriately redacted (Correct answer)
- Refuse the entire request because some of it is exempt
- Release all of the documents as transparency is a public value
- Ask the requestor to narrow their request before processing it
Correct answer: Release the non-exempt material with exempt sections appropriately redacted
FOI law requires you to release what you can and exempt only what you must. A blanket refusal because of partial exemptions is unlawful.
Question 2: Your team is required to deliver a new service with a budget that you believe is insufficient. What should you do?
- Flag the concern to your manager with evidence, propose solutions, and document the risk (Correct answer)
- Agree to deliver the service without raising concerns to avoid conflict
- Start the project and raise the budget issue only when problems emerge
- Tell stakeholders the budget is fine and find savings elsewhere without telling your manager
Correct answer: Flag the concern to your manager with evidence, propose solutions, and document the risk
Proactive risk escalation with evidence and proposed solutions is the professional approach. Concealing resource concerns is a serious management failure.
Question 3: A colleague asks you to sign off their expenses claim which includes items you believe are not allowable. What should you do?
- Decline to sign and explain which items appear non-allowable, suggesting they check the policy (Correct answer)
- Sign it to maintain a good relationship with your colleague
- Sign it but raise concerns with finance afterwards
- Refuse all of it without checking the policy first
Correct answer: Decline to sign and explain which items appear non-allowable, suggesting they check the policy
Signing off non-allowable expenses exposes you to personal liability and undermines public spending controls. Declining with a clear explanation is professional and fair.
Question 4: You are presenting findings to a senior official and realise mid-presentation that one of your charts contains an error. What should you do?
- Immediately acknowledge the error, correct it verbally, and follow up with accurate data (Correct answer)
- Continue the presentation and correct the chart afterwards without mentioning it
- Stop the presentation and apologise extensively, causing significant delay
- Carry on and hope the official does not notice the error
Correct answer: Immediately acknowledge the error, correct it verbally, and follow up with accurate data
Honesty requires immediate acknowledgement. Continuing without disclosure could lead to wrong decisions being made on inaccurate data.
Question 5: A colleague from another team asks if you can share your team's internal working documents to help with their project. What should you do?
- Check whether sharing is permitted under your team's information sharing protocols before deciding (Correct answer)
- Share the documents as helping colleagues is always the right thing to do
- Refuse outright as documents should never be shared across teams
- Share them informally without documenting that you have done so
Correct answer: Check whether sharing is permitted under your team's information sharing protocols before deciding
Information sharing in government is governed by protocols. Checking before sharing protects sensitive information and ensures accountability.
Question 6: You have been offered a place on a prestigious development programme. It will require 20% of your time over six months. What should you do first?
- Discuss with your manager to ensure cover and that the time commitment is feasible (Correct answer)
- Accept immediately and inform your manager afterwards
- Decline as your current work must always take priority
- Accept on the condition that you will only attend when workload allows
Correct answer: Discuss with your manager to ensure cover and that the time commitment is feasible
Manager discussion ensures the team can plan for your absence and that the opportunity is taken without compromising delivery. Acting unilaterally is unprofessional.
Fast Stream Situational Judgement (Public Sector Scenarios) 4
You receive a freedom of information request for documents that contain some exempt material and some non-exempt material.
What is the correct approach?