Procurement and the Confidential Reporting Policy

The Council has a Confidential Reporting (Whistle-blowing) Policy which sets out the responsibilities of officers and action to be taken in cases of theft, corruption, irregularity, or when damage is suspected.   

This Policy applies to all employees and those contractors working for the Council on Council premises, for example, agency staff, builders, drivers.  It also covers suppliers and those providing services under a contract with the Council in their own premises and provides a mechanism to report suspected wrong doings confidentially and for these reasons this Policy also forms part of our internal Procurement Code of Practice.

The Confidential Reporting Policy is intended to cover major concerns that fall outside the scope of other procedures - these include:

• Conduct which is an offence or breach of law.
• Disclosures related to miscarriages of justice.
• Health and safety risks, including risks to the public as well as other employees.
• Damage to the environment.
• The unauthorised use of public funds.
• Possible fraud and corruption.
• Sexual or physical abuse of clients.
• Other unethical conduct.

These procedures are in addition to the Council's Complaints procedures and other statutory reporting procedures applying to some departments. The contracting Officer is responsible for making service users aware of the existence of these procedures and in the event of such an issue, an investigation would be carried out and action taken as necessary.