Parliament Workbench

Petition · PE01488 · Session 4

Whistleblowing in local government

Closed Submitted 14 Jun 2013 People & Communities
Signatures
1
85 online signatures with a country
Comments
8
Considered
5 meetings
in the Official Report

What it asks

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to support the introduction of staff whistle-blower hotlines to report mismanagement in Scottish local authorities, with reports overseen by councillors from each party.

What the petitioner did first

• 7th October 2012 – I sent request to Edinburgh Council Leader to set up whistle-blower hotline for Council staff
- he said he would look into it and get back to me when he had any progress to report.
• 6th Dec – I submitted draft Unison motion calling for hotline which reports to elected members.
• 7th January 2013 – I lodged a Petition to Edinburgh’s Petitions Committee seeking the same, entitled “ A Safer Way to Report Edinburgh Council Mismanagement”
• 18th April – Committee asked me to present my Petition, because it had received more than 500 signatures. They recommended the Council Corporate Management Team (CMT) evaluate the proposal.
• 11th June – My Petition was deemed inappropriate by CMT, who submitted their own proposal to Council’s Policy & Strategy Committee for a helpline instead. Committee accepted my claim that the legality of the new policy required further consideration; matter is now remitted to 29th August.
Other actions
• 21st Feb – I proposed same whistleblowing system to Jo Swinson MP, Employment Minister, on account of her on-going review of the 1998 Public Interest Disclosure Act. The Minister indicated proposal could be considered in summer 2013’s call for evidence.
• 14th June- I approached Derek Mackay MSP, Minister for Local Government, with request that guidance to Councillors on getting involved with operational matters be reviewed. I await a reply.
• I have also lobbied Gavin Brown MSP, Kezia Dugdale MSP, Alison Johnstone MSP, Sarah Boyack MSP, Marco Biaggi MSP, and Margo McDonald MSP; Mike Crockart MP, Sheila Gilmore MP and Ian Murray MP (in his role as shadow minister for Employee Relations). Thus far, Alison Johnstone, Gavin Brown and Ian Murray have been supportive.

Where it was considered

Official Report
  1. 29 Oct 2013
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    1 mention
  2. 14 Jan 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  3. 18 Mar 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  4. 20 May 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  5. 3 Jun 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention

Signatures by country

85 online signatures
  1. Scotland71 83.5%
  2. United Kingdom9 10.6%
  3. England2 2.4%
  4. Northern Ireland1 1.2%
  5. Greece1 1.2%
  6. New Zealand1 1.2%

Comments

8 comments, oldest first
  1. Jan Ooms 30 Jun 2013
    In a perfect world we would not need whistleblowers but we do because our governments lie repeatedly. Julian Assange
  2. Pete Gregson 1 Jul 2013
    Whistleblowing... "We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm." Nicolas Chamfort
  3. Alison Bourne 3 Jul 2013
    I fully support this Petition as a means of ensuring better transparency and accountability from public service officials. If granted, then, in time, it would be hoped that the reputation of pubic sector organisations as honest and competent might be restored.
  4. Sean 13 Jul 2013
    Having been a victim of very nasty abuse, bullying, intimidation, threats and discrimination. I support any policy that allows greater disclosure of wrong doing within local authorities.
  5. CG BURRY 8 Aug 2013
    This is long overdue. I have had personal knowledge on more than one occasion where local authority staff members confidentially (authority name withheld) hinted and voiced their disagreement and discomfort with decisions which had impacted negatively on Article 8 related matters within proceedings, which then established Article 6 circumstances and failings, contrary to government legislations, as well as the authority's own procedural guidelines. I most certainly will be keeping an eye on the whether this gets the green light or not. It ought to. If it does there perhaps could be a online reporting system put in place complete with encrypted privacy measures which will allow whistle blowers to feel confident that their revelation will have guaranteed anonymity, certainly important for those who would be in fear of being victimized or penalized for breaching confidentiality clauses which is written into most Article 8 type cases, in particular child protection proceedings for example. Maladministration is a huge problem despite the under reporting and adverse publicity and those who may have knowledge about wrong doings or culpable deviation from good procedural practice are worried about losing their pensions.
  6. John McLean 9 Aug 2013
    What a very worthy Petition.
    Perhaps limiting it to Local Government and not to be fully inclusive of all aspects and levels of Governance is its only potential weakness?
    There are cases where Councillors have been criticised in external audits for not holding the Council Officials to account due to a lack of training provided by the very Council officials that were not being held to account! There are many good people that would come forward in the name of Administrative Justice if their employment was not on the line. All Contracts of Employment should have such a protection as part of our democratic rights.
  7. John McLean 9 Aug 2013
    This is a very worthy Petition.
    Perhaps it would be enhanced by being more inclusive of all tiers of governance?
    There are many people that would be prepared to help uncover much more of the fact based evidence if their jobs were not on the line for doing so. ALL public sector employment contracts should contain rigid protection for people offering evidence in such cases. Isn't that simply a requirement of any democracy?
  8. Declan Egar 14 Aug 2013
    "We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm." Nicolas Chamfort
    A very apt quote. Everybody from children in school right up to adults in any employment need to know that they can report wrongdoing without fear of recrimination.