Issue - meetings
Whistleblowing – New policy, processes and the work of Grant Thornton
Meeting: 12/10/2017 - General Purposes Committee (Item 4)
4 Whistleblowing – New policy, processes and the work of Grant Thornton PDF 92 KB
In January 2017 Grant Thornton UK LLP was commissioned to undertake a review of the whistleblowing arrangements of the Council. They produced a report outlining their findings and made a number of recommendations that they considered would produce a more effective whistleblowing framework for the Council and suggested an action plan.
Additional documents:
- Enc. 1 for Whistleblowing – New policy, processes and the work of Grant Thornton, item 4 PDF 207 KB
- Enc. 2 for Whistleblowing – New policy, processes and the work of Grant Thornton, item 4 PDF 166 KB
- Enc. 3 for Whistleblowing – New policy, processes and the work of Grant Thornton, item 4 PDF 57 KB
- Enc. 4 for Whistleblowing – New policy, processes and the work of Grant Thornton, item 4 PDF 53 KB
- Enc. 5 for Whistleblowing – New policy, processes and the work of Grant Thornton, item 4 PDF 41 KB
Minutes:
Holly Bell, Trainee Solicitor and Paul Greeno, Senior Corporate and Governance Lawyer, introduced the report which outlined the findings and recommendations made by Grant Thornton UK LLP following their review of Council’s whistleblowing arrangements.
The Committee noted that the Corporate Director, Governance has indicated the role for monitoring the Council’s whistleblowing will be transferred from Standards Advisory Committee to the Audit Committee, which may require minor amendments to the terms of reference of the latter body.
Asmat Hussain, Corporate Director, Governance informed the committee that the number of whistleblowing reports had increased from 31 in 2016 to 79 in 2017. Ms Hussain also advised that an e-learning module is being produced to accompany the roll-out of the new arrangements and she will arrange for Members to have access to it.
RESOLVED:
That the General Purposes Committee:
1. Noted the revised Whistleblowing Policy and recommends to the Audit Committee for approval at Appendix 1;
2. Noted the Whistleblowing Procedure and recommends to the Audit Committee for approval at Appendix 2;
3. Noted the Whistleblowing Guidance for Managers at Appendix 3;
4. Noted the Whistleblowing Guidance for Investigators at Appendix 4; and
5. Noted the Council’s response to the Grant Thornton Action Plan at Appendix 5.