Will other parties interviewed during a whistleblowing investigation be informed about the outcome of the case?
Wherever possible and where requested, brief feedback on the outcome of a case will be provided to other parties involved in a whistleblowing investigation. Feedback will only be provided on request, not as a matter of course, and via contact details provided to the IO for this purpose.
Please note – the feedback that is provided may be limited by the Council’s obligations relating to the sharing of confidential or personal information. This means that the feedback provided may be limited to confirmation that the investigation has concluded, that the outcome has been scrutinised by GRBV and that the IO’s recommendations will now be implemented by the Council. We recognise that this can be frustrating for other parties involved, who may feel that they need or wish to know more or that receiving a brief update means there hasn’t been a proper investigation or that the Council is ‘covering up’ the disclosed concerns or outcomes.
We hope that other parties involved can be assured by the oversight and involvement of Safecall (as an entirely independent external organisation) and the scrutiny of Elected Members (on GRBV), that matters have been properly investigated and any recommended actions will be taken.
It should be noted that where matters are raised through a more appropriate channel (eg. via one of the HR policies) it is more likely that more detail on the outcome will be able to be shared as those processes are usually more personal to the parties involved.