Issue - items at meetings - Whistleblowing - presentation from Public Concern at Work

Presentation from Public Concern at Work.

77.1         The Chairman welcomed Shonali Routray from Public Concern at Work (PCaW) to the meeting to make a presentation to the Committee.

77.2         Ms Routray explained that PCaW was an independent charity set up in 1993 to provide confidential legal advice to individuals in a work environment following several large scale health and safety disasters where staff had been scared to voice concerns or where their concerns had been lost in middle management. PCaW played a leading role in putting whistleblowing on the governance agenda and in developing legislation in the UK and abroad.

Ms Routray reported that one third of all calls received to the PCaW helpline came from the care and health sectors, with a large number of calls also received from the financial and education sectors.

The council had been subscribing to PCaW’s basic package for organisations since 2005, which included helpline subscription, the compliance toolkit, promotional materials and either one hour’s consultancy or a place at an expert whistleblowing training workshops.

Ms Routray explained that a whistleblowing policy was a deterrent in addition to being a tool for detecting malpractice. It would also assure staff that it was safe to speak up early and encourage manager to address concerns effectively and focus on risks. Good whistleblowing arrangement would have a clear lead from the top on the organisation.

PCaW could give independent advice and raise concerns on behalf of staff whilst ensuring confidentiality was upheld, but could not investigate concerns. Staff were also able to raise concerns with trade unions and professional organisations.

Ms Routray advised that it was important for the council to actively promote its whistleblowing policy and regularly review it.

77.3         The Chairman thanked Ms Routray for the clear presentation.

77.4         In response to a question from Councillors Elgood regarding appropriate promotion of the policy Ms Routray advised that it was important to strike a balance. The policy ought to be easily accessible to all staff and the council could consider printing messages on payslips and publishing whistleblowing stories, both from inside and outside of the organisation, in its internal media.

77.5         Following a request from Councillor Simpson to comment on the council’s whistleblowing policy, Ms Routray explained that she found it to be slightly over-legalistic in its language. She advised that it would be helpful to emphasise confidentiality and job security at the beginning of the policy and ensure that the contacts listed were well trained. She added that it was good to see the benefits of the policy listed.

77.6         The Chairman agreed that it was important for the policy to use accessible language and provide clear assurance about job security.

77.7         The Chairman advised that the Committee move on to discuss the next item as it was linked to the presentation and Ms Routray may wish to provide comment further during its consideration.

77.8         RESOLVED – That the presentation be noted.