Issue - meetings

Report of the Head of Audit and Risk Management to advise the Audit Committee of the operation and use of the Council’s Whistleblowing policy.

Anne Woods, Head of Audit and Risk Management, presented a report on the operation and use of the Council’s whistleblowing policy, which was in place to enable staff within the Council to raise concerns. Ms Woods advised the Committee that staff received reminders of the whistleblowing policy twice each year via team briefs and Smart Talk, and that in addition to this every member of staff was written to individually every two or three years to ensure that all staff were aware of the policy. Ms Woods reported that the formal whistleblowing process was employed infrequently, and that concerns tended to be directed anonymously to the Head of Audit and Risk Management.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding whether bullying was also covered by the policy, Ms Woods reported that bullying was dealt with by other specific policies designed to address this issue. Training on bullying was carried out with senior managers on a periodic basis, but it was confirmed that there was no regular training programme on this issue.

The Chair asked whether the Council was complying with best practice in this area, in comparison with other London boroughs. It was reported that Haringey was generally in line with other London boroughs in terms of its whistleblowing policy.

Concern was raised that a review of the policy may be needed, and that the Audit Committee should discuss this, consider the evidence available and also examine specific scenarios. It was noted by the Chair, however, that the policy had been examined by Internal Audit and that the responsibility for the implementation of the policy lay with officers and was not within the remit of the Audit Committee. As agreed previously by the Audit Committee, monitoring of the use of the policy was the role of the Leader and Chief Executive. The suggestion was made that a whistleblowing role-playing exercise could be undergone involving staff, as a means of training and identifying any issues in practice.

RESOLVED

That the content of the report be noted.