Issue - meetings

The Committee received and noted the annual Whistleblowing Report of the Council which summarised the whistleblowing activity over the last year and analysed the effectiveness of the Council’s system. The annual Whistleblowing Register had been redacted and was appended to the report.

The Senior Governance Officer presented the report and informed the Committee that there had been nine whistleblowing matters contained within the report, many of which had been closed. In relation to one of the whistleblowing reports, assistance had been sought from internal audit in relation to fleet services.  The housing maintenance matter was currently being investigated, but support from audit was not required with that particular matter. 

During the debate, the Committee made the following points:

·      It was good that people felt comfortable knowing that they could raise whistleblowing complaints, which indicated that there was trust and confidence in the process, and an indication of a very healthy organisational culture.

·      In relation to the housing maintenance complaint, there had been concerns expressed about the delay between the whistleblower making an allegation and the allegation being acted on, but this had not been reflected in the annual report. In response, the senior governance officer indicated that this committee would receive a report concerning every individual whistleblowing matter.  The last occasion was in April and a further report was expected for the July meeting. 

·      Reassurance was sought that future whistleblowing reports would be acted on quickly and, in response, the senior governance officer noted that there was a requirement that the detailed investigation in respect of each individual whistleblowing matter was reported to the Corporate Management Board, and then to this committee.  The Interim Strategic Director for Housing and Environment reminded the Committee that the Chief Executive, at the last meeting on 15 May 2024, had given a commitment that the senior staff investigation currently ongoing into who knew what and when in respect of the housing maintenance issue would be reported to councillors, together with any learning points. Any whistleblowing allegations received were referred directly to the Monitoring Officer who was investigating them.  There was absolute recognition that what went on in the past with that particular whistleblowing allegation should not happen again.

Having reviewed the contents of the annual Whistleblowing Report, the Committee

RESOLVED:

(1)         That the Committee agreed that the governance arrangements were operating effectively.

(2)         That the Committee did not wish to make any specific recommendations in that regard but wished to continue receiving whistleblowing reports in a timely manner.

Reasons:

·      This Committee is a key component of the authority’s corporate governance regime.  The Committee provides an independent and high-level focus on the assurance and reporting arrangements that underpin good governance.

·      The Committee has, within its terms of reference in Part 3 of the Constitution: ‘To consider an annual report of the operation of the Whistleblowing Policy, including incidents reported’ (para 14).

The Committee considered a report by the Monitoring Officer in respect of concerns raised formally under the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy regarding allegations of inappropriate behaviour/conduct by a member of staff within, and subsequently the operational practices by, the Council’s Bereavement Services team.

The allegations had been investigated internally and, subsequently, by an external investigator who carried out a full investigation and submitted their findings and recommendations to the Strategic Director, Community Wellbeing and relevant Executive Head of Service, which led to improvement plans being implemented.  Full details of the investigator’s findings and recommendations, the improvement plans, including progress against those plans, were set out in the committee report.

The Committee noted that the current Whistleblowing Policy (dated 2017) was overdue for a review and that steps were being taken to review and update the policy and align it, where appropriate, with Waverley Borough Council’s Policy. It was anticipated that a further report on the matter would be submitted to the Committee for consideration within the next six months.

The Committee

RESOLVED:

(1)    That the contents of the report be noted.

(2)    That a further report on the review of the Council’s Whistleblowing Policy be submitted to the Committee within the next 6 months.

Reasons:

·      The Committee was a key component of the authority’s corporate governance regime, and provided an independent and high-level focus on the assurance and reporting arrangements that underpin good governance.

·      The Committee had, within its terms of reference in Part 3 paragraph 14: “To consider an annual report of the operation of the whistle-blowing policy, including incidents reported”.