Summary
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Whistleblowing was launched in July 2018 to look at the case for an Independent Office for the Whistleblower. The APPG have set an ambitious workplan aiming to take back the UK’s lead on this legislation, proposing to deliver world class, gold standard draft legislation – a global solution to a global problem.
The objectives of the APPG for Whistleblowing are:
- Influencing policies and decisions that affect whistleblowers globally.
- Drafting legislation to ensure effective protection for whistleblowers.
- Commissioning and publishing research, based on our work with whistleblowers and relevant groups and stakeholders across all sectors.
- Engaging our supporters in campaigns to influence decisions affecting whistleblowers.
- Giving whistleblowers safe platforms to speak out on issues affecting them.
- Promoting positive social attitudes towards whistleblowing.
- Encouraging MPs to promote positive recognition for whistleblowers.
- Supporting and upskilling MPs and their staff to identify and manage constituent whistleblower cases.
Content
This report is not exclusive to the NHS, they set out recommendations for all industries.
In this report, the APPG sets out its findings as follows:
- The UK regulatory framework of whistleblower protection is complicated, overly legalistic, cumbersome, obsolete and fragmented.
- The remedies provided by PIDA are mainly retrospective and largely not understood.
- A general obligation for public and private organisations to set up whistleblowing mechanisms and protections is missing.
- The definition of whistleblowing and whistleblowers is too narrow. Consequently, the protections set by the law apply only to a limited number of citizens and do not properly reflect existing working practice or protect the public.
- As a result of the excessive complexity and fragmentation of the regulatory frame work, there is little public knowledge or understanding of the existing legal protections for whistleblowers.
- That policy and procedure, while looking good on paper, bears no resemblance to actual practice.
- There is a disconnect between what is understood to be and what is the role of the prescribed persons leading to confusion, mistrust on both sides and allowing crimes and other wrongdoing to escape scrutiny.
- The cost of litigation is too great for most citizens and this is known and exploited by employers.
All Party Parliamentary Group. Whistleblowing: The personal cost of doing the right thing and the cost to society of ignoring it (July 2019)
https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/88d04c_9754e54bc641443db902cd963687cb55.pdf
0
reactions so far
0 Comments
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now