Issue - meetings

Members considered a report which provided a review of whistleblowing activity by the Monitoring Officer for the 2022/23 year.

The policy was reviewed by the Governance and Audit Committee in 2021 with recommendations made for the Joint Staff Consultative Committee to consider. The policy was last reviewed by the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee in April 2022 and was agreed for adoption.

There were no referrals made to the Whistleblowing helpline in the period from April 2022 to March 2023. These figures were in line with similar-sized district-level local authorities.

Debate ensued, and Members questioned about grievances, a related tool for officers to utilise in raising issues within their work. The Director of Corporate Services explained one grievance case arose in the same period, with the outcome not being upheld.

Members also questioned the usage of the term ‘Whistleblowing’ and whether a negative perception affected the possibility of cases going unreported. The Director clarified, that related public sector bodies had instituted similar protected policies that advocated, for staff’s freedom to speak up alongside whistleblowing policies. She further suggested that a more comprehensive review of that option was possible and indicated that the Joint Staff Consultative Committee would be a suitable avenue for discussion.

Members sought and received indication it was feasible to make such a recommendation to the Joint Staff Consultative Committee and with the general consent of the Committee to include an additional recommendation, having been proposed and seconded, on being put to the vote it was unanimously

RESOLVED that: -

(a)               the contents of the report be noted;

(b)               the Governance and Audit Committee continue to receive annual reports in relation to the Whistle Blowing policy implementation and incidents; and

(c)               the Joint Staff Consultative Committee, as part of the next annual review of the Whistleblowing Policy be requested to consider adopting more positive terminology for the Whistleblowing Policy.