Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of Corporate Director, Resources that sought to approve the revised Confidential reporting Code (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager highlighted the changes to the policy and explained that it now aligns with other Council policies.  He added that a revised incident reporting form had been produced and would be communicated as widely as possible together with the policy.

Councillor Temple said that it would be useful for the Committee to know some comparative data with other local authorities about records of whistleblowing per member of staff.

Councillor L Armstrong asked for assurance that schools policies were just as robust, as they were excluded from the policy.  He also expressed concern as to how staff within schools could report any incident especially if involved the head teacher.  The Chief Internal Auditor and Corporate Fraud Manager explained that the policy was circulated to schools and they could adapt to suit their requirements.  He advised that schools receive accreditation from the DfE for having a Whistleblowing policy.  He confirmed that staff within schools could report matters to the governing body of the school.

Resolved:

That the revised Confidential Reporting Code be approved.