Issue - meetings

Following a request by the Chairman, the Head of Audit Partnership submitted a report reviewing the effectiveness of the Council’s arrangements for raising concerns at work.  It was noted that:

·  All organisations were encouraged by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 to create and maintain procedures to facilitate their staff raising concerns and to protect them from detrimental treatment.  The Council’s procedures were set out in a Whistleblowing Charter, but the arrangements had not been reviewed for some considerable time and, in particular, did not reflect changes in the Council’s structure or developments in regulations and best practice around whistleblowing.

·  The opportunity had been taken to expand the scope of the work to include comparative information from Ashford and Tunbridge Wells Borough Councils.

·  It was the overall recommendation of the review that the Corporate Governance Working Group be requested to bring forward detailed recommendations for the implementation of a new approach to raising concerns at work.

·  The Corporate Governance Working Group had met earlier that day and hoped to be in a position to report back to the Committee in March.  The Group had been of the view that it would be appropriate for the Head of Audit Partnership to take overall responsibility for whistleblowing at Officer level.

In response to a question by a Member about anonymity, the Head of Audit Partnership explained that the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 fundamentally related to protecting people from harassment, but in terms of anonymity, it was not possible to protect a person if their identity was not known.  However, action could be taken to protect a person’s identity by not disseminating information beyond the need to know.

RESOLVED:  That the Corporate Governance Working Group be requested to bring forward detailed recommendations for the implementation of a new approach to raising concerns at work having regard to the following actions to improve the Council’s arrangements identified by the review:

·  Clearly establish overall responsibility for whistleblowing at an Officer level, including amending the Constitution and/or Audit Charter where necessary.

·  Revise and refresh the Whistleblowing Charter with reference to Public Concern At Work’s identified best practice.

·  The revised Charter should in particular give staff clear expectations on the Council’s response including investigation approaches and timescales.

·  Undertake relevant training and awareness raising periodically among staff and Members.

·  Report monitoring information to Members on progress towards raising awareness of whistleblowing, quantitative information on concerns raised and headline narrative on what the Council has learned from matters brought to its attention through whistleblowing (this to be done on a regular basis to maintain whistleblowing awareness).