Issue - meetings

The Monitoring Officer to submit a report for Members to seek approval of a revised Whistleblowing Policy which is required to comply with legislation and forms part of the Council internal governance controls

RESOLVED that:

1)    The Committee APPROVED the Whistleblowing Policy.

2)    The Committee DELEGATED AUTHORITY to the Monitoring Officer to make minor changes in line with legislative or operational changes.

3)    The Committee noted that the Monitoring Officer would make changes to paragraph 11 of the Whistleblowing Policy in line with member comments and report to Members what changes had been made.

A report was provided by the Director for Law and Governance the purpose of which was to seek approval of a revised Whistleblowing Policy which complied with legislation, forming part of the Council’s internal governance controls.

During the discussion the following points were noted:

Concerns were raised about the following wording contained within paragraph 11 of the draft Policy;

“The investigating officer should in the first instance inform any employee who is the subject of a whistleblowing allegation of the allegation before a decision is taken as to what will happen with it. If the investigating officer determines that this would not be appropriate in the circumstances then he should seek guidance from the Monitoring Officer who may advise not to inform the employee at this stage of the process.”

The concerns were, if the Officer who was subject to the complaint was automatically told that there had been a complaint raised against them, it may impact an officer’s mental health should the complaint later be found to be unsubstantiated.

The Monitoring Officer agreed to consider concerns and make necessary amendments within her delegation if granted by the Committee.

Concerns were also raised regarding the retention of evidence in Whistleblowing cases.

RESOLVED that:

1)    The Committee APPROVED the Whistleblowing Policy.

2)    The Committee DELEGATED AUTHORITY to the Monitoring Officer to make minor changes in line with legislative or operational changes.

3)    The Committee noted that the Monitoring Officer would make changes to paragraph 11 of the Whistleblowing Policy in line with member comments and report to Members what changes had been made.