Temat: Whistleblowing newsletter May 9, 2014

Whistleblowing newsletter

Welcome to our newsletter
Council of Europe recommends whistleblower protection
NHS whistleblowers demand justice
Report finds police failed to adequately investigate whistleblower claims

Welcome to our newsletter
It's that time of year again, the PCaW team are participating in the 10k London Legal Walk. We have handled over 3,000 cases last year alone and the number of calls to our advice line continues to increase year upon year. We are running at a deficit and need your support to reach out to more workers and ensure they know about us earlier, so that we can help them to protect the public interest. This year we are raising funds for core funding and also to help us to develop a 'Workers of Tomorrow' project, allowing us to raise the importance of whistleblowing with children and young adults, and influence the next generation of potential whistleblowers. If you would like to support us and our work, please donate here.
Also this week, the Council of Europe has made recommendations to Member States on the implementation of whistleblower protection, six medical whistleblowers have demanded an investigation into their treatment by the NHS and finally the Irish Justice Minister has resigned following a damning report on his handling of the police whistleblowers.
Thank you for your continued support.
Ciara Bottomley
Press Officer

Council of Europe recommends whistleblower protection

The Council of Europe, the body responsible for the oversight of the European Convention of Human Rights, has recommended the implementation of whistleblower protection in Member States. The recommendations include:
• Whistleblowers should be protected during the recruitment process or other pre-contractual stage;
• An employer should not be able to rely on a person’s legal or contractual obligations in order to prevent that person from making a public interest report or disclosure or to penalise him or her for having done so; and
• Whistleblowers who make internal reports should, as a general rule, be informed, by the person to whom the report was made, of the action taken in response to the report: http://coe.it, 30 April 2014

NHS whistleblowers demand justice

Pressure is mounting on the NHS to reopen the cases of six of its most famous whistleblowers after they called for a judge-led public inquiry. After a string of critical reports by MPs, the whistleblowers have written to a senior official at the Department of Health to ask for fresh investigations and compensation in what would be a landmark review.
They wrote "We have all suffered employment, reputational and financial loss. Some of us have had health problems and we have all endured severe stress. We would like our cases investigated and remedied at the earliest opportunity.”
The Times, 7 May 2014

Report finds police failed to adequately investigate whistleblower claims

This week Ireland's Justice Minister Alan Shatter resigned following criticism over his handling of the case. A report into the concerns has vindicated the police whistleblowers. It was found that an Garda Síochána and Alan Shatter failed in their duties to properly investigate allegations of corruption and malpractice in the force. In a 300-page report on a dossier of claims handed in by garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe, the report finds there is cause for concern about the adequacy of investigations into matters raised by Sgt McCabe.
The Irish Times, 9 May 2014

Making whistleblowing work
http://pcaw.org.uk - whistle@pcaw.org.uk