Edinburgh councillors discuss 'major' whistleblower allegations in private
| Author | Donald Turvill |
| Published date | 14 June 2022 |
| Publication title | EdinburghLive (Scotland) |
The private B agenda, which contained a whistleblowing monitoring report and two major investigation outcome reports, followed public proceedings where councillors were presented with new data on council whistleblowing.
A source said the reports dealt with issues "across the council" including "one major matter which is subject to external investigation and police investigation."
Head of Legal for the City of Edinburgh Council, Nick Smith, said a "significant increase" in the practice of contacting the whistleblower service had been noted.
In the first quarter of this year between January and April, the hotline received 19 new complaints, three of which were labelled 'major/significant', whilst 13 were 'minor/operational', and the remaining three are still to be assigned a category.
It follows up upward trend in whistleblowing observed following two investigations into the culture of the council and how staff are supported when bringing forward allegations of misconduct and malpractice in the workplace.
Since October when QC Susanne Tanner released the findings of her first inquiry into former social worker and serial abuser Sean Bell, 40 disclosures have been made to Safecall, compared to 15 between April and September last year.
Mr Smith said the latest figures are "a positive sign that people feel able to bring matters forward".
He added: "We think the average should be around 35 per year based on benchmark information. Last year we exceeded that with around 45 but there was nine in relation to the same matter. This year to date we have have over 30 so if you extrapolate that out it looks like we could be on target for 60 to 70.
"I'm obviously still disappointed in some ways that people feel the need to come forward because as part of the overall plan what I'd like to see is a wholesale council culture change so that people can have the issues both raised and dealt with in what we call the first line."
Ms Tanner's second report found there was "not a universally positive, open, safe and supportive whistleblowing and organisational culture". Whilst noting improvements in the culture since the introduction of a whistleblowing policy in 2014, Ms Tanner made 50 recommendations towards...
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