Councillors to Review Whistleblowing Policy Amid Criticism

A COUNCIL policy which has come in for much criticism is expected to be put under the microscope by councillors in November.
At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Democratic Services committee on Monday, September 2 councillors looked ahead to what they want to see on the agenda at their next meeting in November.
In January, the committee had “requested” that a report on council’s whistleblowing policy be brought to a meeting for discussion.
It had been expected that the whistleblowing item would be on the agenda for the committee’s April’s meeting, but it was delayed as the policy is under review by members of another council committee.
Committee chairman, Cllr Graham Breeze of the Powys Independent group said: “We really do want this for the committee on that date (November 25).
“It’s been a long time in coming and there has been some serious coverage in the press about an audit of this policy, so we do need to discuss it as soon as possible.”
Conservative, Cllr Pete Lewington, who as a member of the Governance and Audit committee has been involved in looking at the whistleblowing policy’s effectiveness.
Cllr Lewington said: “Just in case members of this committee don’t know, there is a sub-committee of the Governance and Audit committee that is involved in undertaking a review of the whole governance framework around whistleblowing.
“One element of that will be to look at fictitious cases to see how they compare against policy.
“So, there may be some updates coming out of that working group that come to Governance and Audit that we may wish to pick up on in November when we look at the policy.”
In December last year accusations that the council had attempted to cover up irregular use of a council credit card by the former headteacher at the North Powys PRU (Pupil Referral Unit) in Newtown were reported by media outlet Nation Cymru.
A whistleblower had reported unusual purchases made in 2021 to the council.
On being told in September 2022 that no evidence of fraud could be found by the council and the investigation had been concluded, the whistleblower then took their concerns to Audit Wales.
The problem then became known to Plaid Cymru group leader, Cllr Elwyn Vaughan, who raised concerns about the handling of the complaint with Mrs Palmer.
Subsequently a complaint has been lodged with the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales against Cllr Vaughan which alleges he brought the authority into disrepute by disclosing confidential information.
Last January at a meeting of the Governance and Audit committee Cllr Lewington had pushed for the Newtown PRU whistleblowing case to be included in the review so that “lessons” could be learned from it
But Mrs Palmer vetoed the suggestion and said that councillors should only look at “policy and procedures.”
Last month Cllr Vaughan received a copy of a report written in April 2023 by the council internal auditors SWAP which was critical of the whistleblowing policy.
SWAP said an action plan was needed to address a number of weaknesses and allow a consistent approach to be taken with investigations.
Last month Cllr Vaughan wrote to council group leaders to highlight his concerns with the policy.
Cllr Vaughan said:  “This matter should be treated with the same urgency and transparency as when there were critical reports made of social services and education.” ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​