Agenda item

The Monitoring Officer submits a report setting out the Council’s strategy in respect of disclosures that may be made by a range of people about the conduct of Local Authority staff.  The Committee is recommended to note the approach to be taken and comment as appropriate.

The Monitoring Officer submitted a report setting out the Council’s strategy in respect of disclosures that could be made by a range of people about the conduct of local authority staff. 

The Monitoring Officer advised the Committee that this Strategy had arisen from a request for a Whistleblowing Policy, but it did not give guidance on expected standards of behaviour.  It therefore was proposed to introduce a suite of policies, combined in to a Disclosure Strategy, to ensure that the correct protection was given to people with different needs.

“Whistleblowing” was a very explicit legal term that gave employees protection at work, including redress through a tribunal if they felt they had been unfairly dismissed for whistleblowing.  It was felt that the Whistleblowing Policy proposed was robust, encouraging the right type of disclosures at the right level, but not discouraging people from disclosing concerns.  If a complaint was legitimate, it would be considered and the staff member dealt with, but there was no automatic right for the whistleblower to know the outcome(s) of their report. 

The Monitoring Officer reported that there had been some debate amongst Members and officers about whether Whistleblowing reports should be considered internally, or through an external agency.  There was concern that making the reports to an external agency could lead to a lot of trivial reports being made.  It therefore had been decided to keep the process in-house, so that it was kept in one place.

It was noted that:-

·           The Whistleblowing Policy gave protection on an individual basis, (as this was an employment law remedy), although the malpractice reported could include more than one person;

·           The Committee suggested that it could be stressed in section 9 of the Whistleblowing Policy, (“Protection and Support for Whistleblowers”), that protection applied to individuals, so anonymous reports were not encouraged;

·           The Whistleblowing Policy stated that an individual should report malpractice to the next relevant person in seniority in their service.  This meant that it did not have to be the immediate supervisor if that manager was involved in the malpractice being reported.  If the whistleblower had doubts that anyone in their section would deal with the matter appropriately, the policy gave the option of reporting the matter to Human Resources or the Monitoring Officer;

·           The Committee requested that the wording of the Policy be reviewed, to ensure that all options for reporting malpractice were clear all of the way through the Policy;

·           The Committee also suggested that an option be included in the policy of speaking to trade unions if a whistleblower had concerns about speaking to managers.  However, there was concern that trades unions often kept reports anonymous, which could be unhelpful.  It was hoped that trades unions would take joint ownership of the Policy and guide their members to complain in their own right.  This was important, as legal protection could only be attached to an individual;

·           All officers were encouraged to strictly follow the remedies outlined in the policy.  This would be especially important if the whistlblower felt they had to resign as a result of their actions; and

·           A deficiency of previous policies had been their lack of profile.  A suite of training therefore was being arranged for all tiers of staff, (but particularly managers), on all of the policies being redesigned, including how to deal with complaints.  This would stress that processing whistleblowing reports was a legal obligation.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the Monitoring Officer be asked to consider the following amendments to the Whistleblowing Policy:-

a)    the wording of the Policy be reviewed, to ensure that all options for reporting malpractice are clear all of the way through the Policy;

b)    that the second sentence of paragraph 5.2 of the Policy be amended as follows (new text in italics):

“Should the Monitoring Officer consider that your concern should not have been raised with them, they will discuss with you how your concern will be dealt with it will be redirected to your line manager or another appropriate manager.”; and

c)    that it be emphasised in section 9 of the Policy, (“Protection and Support for Whistleblowers”), that protection applies to individuals, so anonymous reports are not encouraged; and

2)    That any further comments on the revised Whistleblowing Policy be passed to the Monitoring Officer.