Whistleblowing policies and practices

Q1 Does your organisation take action to protect external whistleblowers from unjustified treatment by their employers or others?
Please select one of the below answers if possible –
i. Yes (please explain what action is taken)
ii. No
iii. Not known

In response to questions 1 – 14 our Whistleblowing Policy is published within the Constitution which can be found on its website. The Council complies with its Whistleblowing policy and the provisions of the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. The Council also has complaints procedures which can be viewed via the link provided. Other than the documents referred to, we do not hold any further information.

Q2 Does any protection against unjustified treatment provided by your organisation extend to persons reporting on behalf of external whistleblowers?
i. Yes (please explain what action is taken)
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q3 Does any protection extend to proposed or intended unjustified action against an external whistleblower contemplated by his/her employer or another in respect of the disclosure?
i. Yes (please explain what action is taken)
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q4 Does your organisation offer any reward or bounty for information received from an external whistleblower in respect of information about which you are the prescribed body or person?
i. Yes
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q5 Does your organisation publish for the public a step by step guide on how it follows up on external whistleblower information?
i. Yes
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q6 Where your organisation does not feel itself to be legally competent to engage with a disclosure made by an external whistleblower, do you have a policy and process to refer that disclosure to another prescribed body/person/regulator or other agency better placed to deal with it?
i. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q7 Where in the circumstances described in Q6 above, your organisation passes information to another prescribed body etc., do you have a policy and process to advise the external whistleblower that the disclosure has been passed to another body etc?
i. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q8 Where an external whistleblower may be dissatisfied with his/her dealings with your organisation, is there an appeals policy and process which engage someone who is independent of the investigating department?
i. Yes (please provide a copy of the policy, where written)
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q9 Does your organisation publish FAQ to advise and assist external whistleblowers considering making a disclosure to you?
i. Yes (please provide the FAQ or direct me to it)
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q10 Does all your staff which communicates with or otherwise manages external whistleblowers receive specialist and on-going training for that purpose?
i. Yes
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q11 Where, following a disclosure to your organisation by an external whistleblower about a matter for which you are prescribed, an alleged act of retaliation occurs against the external whistleblower by the employer or another person, does your organisation investigate the alleged act of retaliation?
i. Yes
ii. No
iii. It would depend on the facts
iv. Not known
Q12 Please describe what criteria you consider in deciding whether to investigate information received from an external whistleblower about a matter in respect of which you are prescribed?
Q13 Does your organisation distinguish between public complaints and external whistleblowers?
i. Yes (please describe the essential differences in your approach between managing public complaints and external whistleblower disclosures)
ii. No
iii. Not known
Q14 Apart from any information on your website, does your organisation undertake any public awareness programme(s) regarding whistleblowing?
i. Yes (if so please provide details)
ii. No
iii. Not known