

#Whistle phone plans compare full
"Our specific message to the City of Edinburgh Council and the people of Edinburgh is that we won’t stop our campaign for justice for the victims until there is a full Public Enquiry. Or, despite the statements to the contrary by the Chief Executive, these are recent incidents and it’s because clearly nothing has changed in the Councils culture of abuse and cover-ups that was exposed by the recent Tanner inquiries. In our view this is either because these are historical incidents that people have been afraid to report in the past or incidents that have previously been insufficiently investigated. Whilst noting improvements in the culture since the introduction of a whistleblowing policy in 2014, Ms Tanner made 50 recommendations towards making positive change.Ī council whistleblowers group formed in the wake of the Tanner inquiries branded the process a "whitewash" and said the scope of the QC's investigations were "narrow and restrictive in allowing the truth to surface".Ī spokesperson for the group added this week: "It is of little surprise that there are a continued number of very serious allegations of abuse in the last few months. Released in December, it found there was "not a universally positive, open, safe and supportive whistleblowing and organisational culture". Disabled Edinburgh resident wins appeal over 'unauthorised' driveway.Edinburgh Leith bingo hall to be protected after council U-turn.
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Sean Bell, who was exposed as a serial abuser prior to his death whilst facing criminal charges in 2020, had been protected by an "old boys network", Ms Tanner concluded, urging the council to review its sexual abuse policy and establish a dedicated investigations unit to look into all allegations in relation to employees of a sexual nature, domestic abuse, physical violence, harassment and stalking.Ī second inquiry, commissioned off the back of the probe into Bell's conduct and how it was enabled, was set-up to review the overall workplace culture of the local authority - and the extent to which staff are supported when bringing forward allegations. The first was released in October and sought to determine how the behaviour of a former senior social worker went unchallenged for the 20 years he worked for Edinburgh Council. They said the recent calls to the service regarding serious cases of misconduct in the council are likely to be "historical incidents that people have been afraid to report in the past or incidents that have previously been insufficiently investigated".īut they also suggested the disclosures could be recent incidents because "nothing has changed in the council's culture of abuse and cover-ups" since the publication of two reports by independent QC Susanne Tanner last year. READ MORE: Edinburgh Fringe venues set to return as plans go to council for approvalĪ group of whistleblowers, made up of former and current council employees, said concerns remain over the culture of the local authority despite an independent review last year – and repeated calls for a public inquiry to be held. It is expected, however, that these will be debated in private. Members of the Governance, Risk and Best Value Committee (GRBV) will also be presented with outcome reports on two major investigations carried out following calls to the service. Three were labelled 'major/significant', 13 were 'minor/operational' and the remaining three are still to be assigned a category. Safecall, the council's external whistleblowing hotline, received 19 new complaints in the first quarter of this year, according to a report going before councillors next week. Three major incidents of alleged misconduct and malpractice within Edinburgh City Council were reported by staff between January and April, it has emerged.
