Agenda item

The Executive Director Core Services will submit his annual report reviewing the activities and current issues regarding the Council’s Corporate Whistleblowing Policy and supporting procedures.

The Executive Director Core Services submitted his annual report reviewing the activities and current issues regarding the Council’s Corporate Whistleblowing Policy and supporting procedures.

The report, in outlining the background to the development of the policy, indicated that it was timely to undertake a fundamental review alongside the wider review of other ethical framework policies such as the Employee Code of Conduct and the procedures for investigations.  The Committee would be kept informed of progress on this review.

The specific whistleblowing arrangements were, of course, only one means of raising concerns and, therefore, the degree and extent of the use of the policy was not considered significant.  What was important was to ensure that there were a number of clear and understood routes for raising concerns and that there were suitable resources and arrangements in place to ensure appropriate investigations were undertaken.

With regard to the arrangements during 2017/18 and 2018/19 there had been six referrals.  Two of those remained the subject of investigation, 3 had been investigated but closed due to insufficient evidence and 1 had been investigated and remedial action taken.  This had not involved the conduct of a specific employee.  Of the 6 referrals, 2 had been made anonymously, one of which had not been proven and the other was one of the live cases.

It was noted that whilst this figure was low, it was nevertheless difficult to speculate what would be an appropriate figure.

In the ensuing discussion the following matters were highlighted:

·         There was a discussion of the ways in which Whistleblowing referrals could be submitted

·         There was a discussion of the reasons for the low number of referrals and the reasons for this.  It was noted that there were alternative options for submitting concerns which could be one of the reasons for the low figure.  The Head of Internal Audit and Corporate Anti-Fraud commented that referrals could be received via phone call and via the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team.  From his perspective, he felt that the culture of the organisation was such that employees felt empowered to raise and discuss their concerns

·         In response to questioning about the awareness of the Whistleblowing arrangements it was noted that there was a need to undertake a cultural audit around ethical awareness.  The Head of Internal Audit and Corporate Anti-Fraud commented, however, that all new employees were given an induction which included reference to the Whistleblowing arrangements and, in addition, all staff notice boards had posters ‘advertising’ the arrangements.  He felt, therefore, that there was a high level of awareness

·         The Audit Manager commented that an internal training course was being developed and would be available via the Authority’s online training facility

·         There was no evidence to suggest that referrals were vexatious or were not raised in good faith.  In addition, employees were always made aware that their anonymity could not be guaranteed (dependent upon the issues investigated)

·         It was noted that as part of the planned review, Internal Audit were planning to undertake work around culture and testing the extent to which policies were known about within the Council and particularly if they were trusted.  It was hoped that the findings of this review would confirm that what was thought about the current arrangements was correct

RESOLVED:

(i)            that the report, and the assurances that it provides be noted; and

(ii)          that the Committee confirms its commitment to continue to support the Council’s overall counter fraud culture and the work of the Corporate Anti-Fraud Team.