Irene,

I don't know of any study, but you can always try collecting your own
statistics by making suitable FOI requests. Here's one that someone
made recently to Wirral Borough Council:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/public_interest_disclosure_act_2

As far as I can see no-one has done a thorough (cross-local
government) set of requests. If you did something like this it would
be very interesting, but obviously avoid repeating things that have
already been done (such as the Wirral one above). If you made the
requests via WDTK, then the information would be available to
everyone, which of course we'd all like.

I'd be interested to know if some government body *does* collect these
statistics.

There of course a problem in how you define whistleblowing. The public
interest disclosure may be made to another body (such as a supervisory
body) so the body on whom the whistle is blown (sorry for the clumsy
terminology) will only sometimes have been the recipient. One of the
reasons for lack of statistics in this area may be that there is no
one way of making a disclosure (correctly - it gives more flexibility
to the whistleblower).

I don't know of any local authority "black list". If there were such
at thing it would almost certainly be illegal and extremely dangerous
for those involved if its existence became known. Refusing to employ
someone because they have (in the past) made a public interest
disclosure is a form of victimisation contrary to the Public Interest
Disclosure Act 1998. Now it is of course one thing for something to be
unlawful, and another for it not to happen (as we know well from
anti-discrimination legislation) but a systematic form of
victimisation would be much easier to prove and much much harder to
defend.

Good luck with this.

Francis

On 17 September 2010 12:01, Irene Rukerebuka
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi All,
> I wonder if anyone could help me with this query.
> I see a lot of the same going around and specifically in terms of national
> govt statistics or initiatives but I wonder if there is any that is not only
> local but runs deeper in terms creating change?
> I'm interested in 'whistleblowing' which apparently still has no real
> 'support' for the whistle blower in local govt-they can become blacklisted.
> Is there anyway I can find stats on whistle blowing in local govt-success
> and non success, plus what happened to the whistle blower?
> If we are ever to make any change, surely it would start on some safety for
> people who decide to speak out against corrupt conduct in the public
> services?
> Cheers
>
>
>
>
> --
> Irene Rukerebuka
>
>
>
> m: 07583337197
>
> t: www.twitter.com/rantersparadise
> w: www.hubnovation.org.uk
> l:http://uk.linkedin.com/in/irenerukerebuka
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list [email protected]
> Archive, settings, or unsubscribe:
> https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
>



-- 
Francis Davey

_______________________________________________
Mailing list [email protected]
Archive, settings, or unsubscribe:
https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public

Reply via email to