PE01488: Whistleblowing in local government

"We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm." Nicolas Chamfort A very apt quote. Everybody from children in school right up to adults in any employment need to know that they can report wrongdoing without fear of recrimination.

Declan Egar

21:42 on 14 Aug 2013

This is a very worthy Petition. Perhaps it would be enhanced by being more inclusive of all tiers of governance? There are many people that would be prepared to help uncover much more of the fact based evidence if their jobs were not on the line for doing so. ALL public sector employment contracts should contain rigid protection for people offering evidence in such cases. Isn't that simply a requirement of any democracy?

John McLean

14:51 on 09 Aug 2013

What a very worthy Petition. Perhaps limiting it to Local Government and not to be fully inclusive of all aspects and levels of Governance is its only potential weakness? There are cases where Councillors have been criticised in external audits for not holding the Council Officials to account due to a lack of training provided by the very Council officials that were not being held to account! There are many good people that would come forward in the name of Administrative Justice if their employment was not on the line. All Contracts of Employment should have such a protection as part of our democratic rights.

John McLean

11:05 on 09 Aug 2013

This is long overdue. I have had personal knowledge on more than one occasion where local authority staff members confidentially (authority name withheld) hinted and voiced their disagreement and discomfort with decisions which had impacted negatively on Article 8 related matters within proceedings, which then established Article 6 circumstances and failings, contrary to government legislations, as well as the authority's own procedural guidelines. I most certainly will be keeping an eye on the whether this gets the green light or not. It ought to. If it does there perhaps could be a online reporting system put in place complete with encrypted privacy measures which will allow whistle blowers to feel confident that their revelation will have guaranteed anonymity, certainly important for those who would be in fear of being victimized or penalized for breaching confidentiality clauses which is written into most Article 8 type cases, in particular child protection proceedings for example. Maladministration is a huge problem despite the under reporting and adverse publicity and those who may have knowledge about wrong doings or culpable deviation from good procedural practice are worried about losing their pensions.

CG BURRY

4:35 on 08 Aug 2013

Having been a victim of very nasty abuse, bullying, intimidation, threats and discrimination. I support any policy that allows greater disclosure of wrong doing within local authorities.

Sean

20:16 on 13 Jul 2013

I fully support this Petition as a means of ensuring better transparency and accountability from public service officials. If granted, then, in time, it would be hoped that the reputation of pubic sector organisations as honest and competent might be restored.

Alison Bourne

15:02 on 03 Jul 2013

Whistleblowing... "We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm." Nicolas Chamfort

Pete Gregson

21:31 on 01 Jul 2013

In a perfect world we would not need whistleblowers but we do because our governments lie repeatedly. Julian Assange

Jan Ooms

14:13 on 30 Jun 2013