Issue - meetings

The Committee was informed that the Council’s current Whistle-Blowing Policy and Procedure had been updated and renamed the Speak Up Policy and Procedure. The revised Policy and Procedure had been considered by the Joint Staff Consultative Group at its meeting on 28 November 2019.

Speaking Up was the confidential disclosure by staff of any wrong-doing they encountered in the workplace.  This Policy and Procedure explained the procedure to follow and outlined an employee’s rights and what they should expect throughout the process.

The Policy was designed to encourage staff to raise serious concerns whilst providing them protection.  The disclosure could be made to the Council or to an external party outside the management structure of the Council.

The Committee considered the section on reporting a concern and suggested that there may be occasions where reporting a concern to a Member could be appropriate, although it was recognised that such an option should be controlled and therefore restricted to a small number of councillors. It was proposed to include the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Employment Committee as a reporting option. Members acknowledged that this would need to be considered alongside the Member & Officer Protocol and agreed to ask the Governance Working Group to review this matter.

The following changes were also agreed:

a)  Additional wording to emphasise the confidentiality the staff making the disclosure could expect;

b)  Amending a bullet point in Paragraph 2 Definitions to read “Failure to comply with any legal obligation or statutes including breach of employment contract, Council governance procedures, or professional regulations”;

c)  Adding the national whistle-blowers helpline details, if this facility was still available.

The Committee agreed to add an annual report on the number of times the Speak Up Policy had been instigated that year, with any identifying information removed or redacted as necessary.

RESOLVED that

(i)        the Speak Up Policy and Procedure, as set out at Annex A to the agenda report, as amended, be adopted;

(ii)      the finalisation of the wording of amendments proposed be delegated to the Executive Head of Transformation in consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Employment Committee, after any necessary discussions with Staff Representatives; and

(iii)     an annual report on the use of the Speak Up Policy be added to the Committee’s Work Programme.