The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 1 plus 6 plus 4 letter word A LITTLE BIRD
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
L
I
T
T
L
E
B
I
R
D
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "one’s secret informer" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case one’s secret informer = a little bird.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.