Ministers must be able to “robustly” challenge civil servants, Downing Street has insisted, as it denied Rishi Sunak had been made aware of informal concerns about Steve Barclay’s conduct.

The health secretary has become the latest member of the prime minister’s cabinet to face bullying allegations, with officials from his department reportedly having spoken privately of “bad behaviour”.

Mr Barclay has not commented publicly but allies “totally deny” the claims.

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And on Thursday, the prime minister’s official spokesman said Mr Sunak had not been made aware of any complaints about the health secretary’s behaviour.

He said there are “established processes” for civil servants if they wish to bring to light any issue, and informal complaints “go to the department and are dealt with there”.

“The health secretary is delivering for the public and working hard to cut the waiting lists so people can get the care they need more quickly,” he added.

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“The prime minister expects ministers to drive delivery in their department.

“Ministers should be able to test and challenge civil servants and their political advisers robustly, and hold departments to account to deliver for the public”.

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It comes after Foreign Secretary James Cleverly defended his cabinet colleague as “absolutely not” a bully.

“I’ve worked with him on a number of occasions,” he told Sky News.

“He has made a statement making it absolutely clear that there have been no reports.

“His statement is clear and completely unambiguous, and I am completely convinced that that is accurate.”

On Wednesday, The Guardian quoted Whitehall sources as saying Mr Barclay regularly “blasted” staff and on occasions “deliberately ignored” colleagues who tried to talk to him.

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The newspaper claimed complaints had been made to the department’s top mandarin about the cabinet minister’s “challenging” behaviour.

The Department of Health and Social Care said it had not received any formal complaints over the behaviour of its ministers, but did not deny being aware of informal ones.

A source close to the health secretary said: “No complaint has been made.”

Asked whether they denied bullying, they said: “Totally deny.”

It comes after the resignation of Dominic Raab as deputy prime minister and justice secretary last week, following an independent inquiry which found he had bullied civil servants.

Adam Tolley KC’s five-month investigation into eight formal complaints about Mr Raab’s conduct found he had behaved in a way that “undermines or humiliates” while foreign secretary and criticised the work of civil servant staff as “woeful” and “utterly useless” while justice secretary.

The concerns over Mr Barclay pre-date the release of the Tolley report, according to The Guardian.

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