Issue - meetings

To consider the recommendation of the Audit Committee in relation to amendments to the Confidential Reporting Code (Whistle Blowing Policy) in the Constitution.

The Council considered the recommendation of the Audit Committee on revisions to the Confidential Reporting Code, set out at Part 5(e) in the Council’s Constitution, following its annual review.

Resolved to approve the amendments to the Confidential Reporting Code, as attached to the report.

To consider a review of the Confidential Reporting Code (Whistleblowing Policy) and make a recommendation to Council.

The Confidential Reporting Code (Whistleblowing Policy), which formed part of the Council’s constitution, had previously been reviewed by officers in 2019 and areas identified for improvement.  The Audit Committee had, at that time, agreed that the Code required updating and requested the Code was amended and brought back for further consideration.  The Group Head of Corporate Governance explained that there had been a delay in carrying out this task due to a change in staffing and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Code sets out how to raise serious concerns about any aspect of the Council’s work, who to raise them with and how they should be dealt with.  The Code was available on the Council’s intranet and leaflets placed on internal notice boards.  However as the majority of staff were currently working from home, consideration was to be given to how to raise awareness in view of this.

The amendments to the code centred around training for staff and the reporting process to be followed.  It was considered essential for the culture of the organisation that staff felt able to report concerns and important that people understood how the process worked to feel confident to do so.  

The Committee asked a number of questions and were advised that the whistleblowing policy was included as part of the induction training for new staff.  Managers were trained to handle issues such as complaints, grievances and whistleblowing and refresher training was offered.  

It was resolved to recommend the Code to Council for approval.

To review the Confidential Reporting Code and leaflet and to recommend any amendments if necessary.

The Confidential Reporting Code forms part of the Council’s Constitution and sets out how to raise serious concerns about any aspect of the Council’s work.  The Audit Committee is required to review the code annually.

The Head of Corporate Governance advised that a review of the Code, using a benchmarking tool, had highlighted some areas for improvement and suggestions had been proposed for the Committee to consider.  The benchmarking tool was designed for use by a wide range of organisations and therefore some of the standards would not be appropriate for the Council. 

Questions were asked about the type and regularity of communications to staff to build awareness of the Code.  Concern was also expressed at the low number of reported whistleblowing incidents and that this may not reflect the true situation.  The Head of Corporate Governance advised that some instances would have been dealt with through other procedures, for example bullying and harassment by Human Resources and not brought to this area. 

The Committee suggested it would be appropriate to arrange a staff survey by an external organisation on a number of issues and recommended that consideration is given to this.

Resolved:

1.    That the Head of Corporate Governance should carry out further work on improving the Confidential Reporting Code and bring it back to the Committee for consideration.  The Head of Corporate Governance will provide a timeline to the Committee for this.

2.    To recommend that the corporate management team consider appointing an external organisation to conduct an anonymous staff survey on a range of issues.