Policy Papers
| Title: | The Blanket of Secrecy | ||
| Description: | The Blanket of Secrecy : We are currently lobbying parliament to remove the blanket of secrecy that means there is no information on the public record about 70% of PIDA cases. This is our briefing note sent before the House of Lords debate. | ||
| Date Published: | Feb 2008 |
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Title: | Rewarding Whistleblowers | |
| Description: | This is our response to the Home Office proposal that the UK should follow the US system of financial rewards for whistleblowers. The paper examines the moral, legal and practical issues involved and the pros and cons of the proposals. |
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| Date Published: | Nov 2007 |
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Title: | Whistleblowing Policies in Whitehall | |
| Description: | Here is a review of the whistleblowing polices in the Civil Service, which ranks departments in terms of their whistleblowing policies, points out that the central guidance on whistleblowing needs overhauling and provides guidance to departments on the whistleblowing law and the new Civil Service Code. |
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| Date Published: | June 2007 |
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Title: | FoI - Fees Regluations | |
| Description: | Our response to Government plans to recover the costs of officials’ time spent reading and thinking about Freedom of Information requests. The response argues that the benefits of the Freedom of Information Act should be assessed before any changes are implemented and that proposed savings have been miscalculated by ignoring the cost of implementation. | ||
| Date Published: | Feb 2007 |
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Title: | Collective Responsibility at Work | |
| Description: | We produced a paper for the Smith Institute on corporate responsibility and how the law can impact on the way managers and workers behave in practice. | ||
| Date Published: | Nov 2006 |
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Title: | Article 33 of the UN Convention Against Corruption | |
| Description: | A briefing note on Article 33 of the UN Convention which is a provision on the role of whistleblowing in tackling corruption, our note explains how countries around the world can sensible comply with this provision. | ||
| Date Published: | October 2006 |
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Title: | Revised Civil Service Code | |
| Description: | A submission to the UK government’s consultation on a revised Civil Service Code and our suggested draft of this Code. | ||
| Date Published: | April 2006 |
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| Title: | Whistleblowing and Data Protection | ||
| Description: | A paper on data protection in relation to whistleblowing, presented to the European Union’s Article 29 Working Party. | ||
| Date Published: | January 2006 |
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| Title: | Submission on the CNIL’s Draft Guidelines on Whistleblowing Schemes under the French Data Protection Act | ||
| Description: | A submission to CNIL (the French data protection authority) on its draft guidelines on whistleblowing schemes (e.g. whistleblowing hotlines) under the French Data Protection Act. | ||
| Date Published: | 7 November 2005 |
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| Title: | Report of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration of the results of an Investigation into a Complaint by Public Concern at Work | ||
| Author & Publisher: | Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration | ||
| Description: | A report from the Ombudsman into a complaint made by PCaW about how the Department for Trade & Industry acted to keep secret claims taken under PIDA. | ||
| Date Published: | August 2005 Click here to open. Information on PCaW’s efforts to secure public access to details of legal claims taken under PIDA can be found here. |
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| Title: | A Code for the Future | ||
| Description: | Our response to the Standards Board for England’s consultation on the Code of Conduct for elected members of local government. | ||
| Date Published: | July 2005 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Corporate Manslaughter Bill | ||
| Description: | A submission to the UK government’s consultation on a proposed Corporate Manslaughter Bill. | ||
| Date Published: | June 2005 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Draft Civil Service Bill | ||
| Description: | This response to the UK government’s consultation on a draft Civil Service Bill examines how the draft Bill confuses the already complicated arrangements for whistleblowing in the Civil Service. It concludes by looking at the way the Civil Service handled whistleblowing about fraudulent visa applications. | ||
| Date Published: | March 2005 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Public Access to Whistleblowing Claims - Briefing on Employment Tribunals Regulation | ||
| Description: | A briefing on regulations that keep secret legal applications made under the Public Interest Disclosure Act for Members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation. | ||
| Date Published: | October 2004 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Speak Up or Pay Up - the new liability on employees for workplace accidents | ||
| Description: | This report explains the background to, and implications of, legislation passed in October 2003 which dealt with liability for accidents and disasters at work. | ||
| Date Published: | October 2004 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Eversheds Lecture - Show and Tell: Is Market Competitiveness Hindered by Data Protection Activism and Whistleblowing Compensation Seekers? | ||
| Description: | The uncorrected transcript of a lecture given at the Royal Society of Arts. Speakers were Guy Dehn, Director of Public Concern at Work, and Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, while the event was chaired by Roger Steel, a partner at Eversheds. | ||
| Date Published: | 8 June 2004 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Getting the Balance Right | ||
| Description: | Submission to the Committee on Standards in Public Life on the key elements of good whistleblowing practice and whether PIDA has made the organisational cultures of public bodies more open and accountable. | ||
| Date Published: | June 2004 Free, click here for our main submission. Click here for our addendum on central government fraud and whistleblowing. Click here for some examples of Whitehall frauds stopped by whistleblowing. The section of the Committee’s report that makes recommendations on whistleblowing (published in January 2005) can be viewed here and the Government’s response to these recommendations (published in December 2005) can be read here. |
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| Title: | Holyrood Inquiry | ||
| Description: | Submission to the Fraser Inquiry into the management of the Holyrood Parliament building project in Scotland. | ||
| Date Published: | May 2004 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Submission to the Court of Appeal on the case of Street v Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’ Centre | ||
| Description: | PCaW’s submission on the meaning of "good faith" in PIDA to the Court of Appeal case Mrs. F.M. Street v Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’Centre. | ||
| Date Published: | March 2004 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Review of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance | ||
| Description: | Submission to the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development’s review of its principles for the governance of private companies. | ||
| Date Published: | February 2004 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | The Shipman Inquiry | ||
| Description: | Submission on whistleblowing in the NHS to The Shipman Inquiry into the case of serial killer Dr Harold Shipman. | ||
| Date Published: | September 2003 To view our submission to the Inquiry, click here. The Shipman Inquiry’s recommendations on whistleblowing (published December 2004) can be downloaded here and the full text of the Fifth Report can be viewed here. |
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| Title: | Is Whistleblowing Working in the NHS? | ||
| Description: | The results of a survey into the state of whistleblowing in the National Health Service. | ||
| Date Published: | May 2003 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Corruption Bill | ||
| Description: | Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the Draft Corruption Bill. | ||
| Date Published: | May 2003 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | ‘In the Public Interest’ - Legal Professional Privilege | ||
| Description: | Response to a consultation on the legal profession by the Lord Chancellor’s Department | ||
| Date Published: | December 2002 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | NEDs and whistleblowing | ||
| Description: | Response to the Higgs Review of the role of non-executive directors | ||
| Date Published: | September 2002 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Accountants, ethics and whistleblowing | ||
| Description: | Submission to the Ethics Standards Board consultation on ethics in the accountancy profession | ||
| Date Published: | September 2002 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Police Reform Bill (HL) | ||
| Description: | Briefing paper for the House of Commons on amendments to the Police Reform Bill (HL) | ||
| Date Published: | June 2002 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Defining the Boundaries within the Executive: Ministers, Special Advisers and the permanent Civil Service | ||
| Description: | Response to a consultation by the Committee on Standards in Public Life | ||
| Date Published: | June 2002 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Practical Guidance on Whistleblowing in the NHS | ||
| Description: | Practical guidance for NHS professionals on how they might responsibly raise a concern about possible wrongdoing or malpractice. | ||
| Date Published: | March 2002 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Whistleblowing the new perspective | ||
| Description: | Essay by Sir Gordon Borrie and Guy Dehn examining the progress made towards a positive whistleblowing culture | ||
| Date Published: | October 2001 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Learning from Bristol | ||
| Description: | Report on Whistleblowing in the NHS in the light of the Kennedy Report into infant deaths at the Bristol Royal Infirmary | ||
| Date Published: | October 2001 | ||
| Click here to open The Government’s response to this Report can be found by clicking here. |
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| Title: | Routes to Resolution | ||
| Description: | Response to DTI consultation document on employment dispute resolution and Employment Tribunal reform. | ||
| Date Published: | September 2001 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Public Interest: open justice, closed government | ||
| Description: | A summary of PCaW’s discussions with government over access to public records about PIDA claims following the judicial review in April 2000 | ||
| Date Published: | October 2000 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Practical hints for small organisations | ||
| Description: | A brief checklist designed to assist smaller organisations who feel it may not be necessary to set up a full whistleblowing policy. | ||
| Date Published: | Revised October 2001 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Human Rights, Whistleblowing and the Public Interest Disclosure Act | ||
| Description: | Briefing paper on the implications of the Human Rights Act on whistleblowing and PIDA | ||
| Date Published: | 2000 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Briefing paper on the Freedom of Information Bill | ||
| Description: | Briefing paper prepared for the House of Lords on the FOI Bill in October 2000 | ||
| Date Published: | 2000 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Reforming the Law on Involuntary Manslaughter | ||
| Description: | PCaW response to the government’s proposals on corporate killing | ||
| Date Published: | 2000 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Whistleblowing to combat corruption | ||
| Description: | Final report of the meeting of management and trade union experts held under the OECD Labour/Management programme and discussion paper prepared by Guy Dehn, Director of PCaW. | ||
| Date Published: | 1999 | ||
| Click here to open. | |||
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| Title: | Speaking Out Without Fear | ||
| Author & Publisher: | Unison | ||
| Description: | A guide from the trade union Unison for union branch officers and stewards. It includes advice on whistleblowing, whistleblowing policies and how to help union members who have raised concerns. | ||
| Date Published: | June 1999 Click here to open. |
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| Title: | Abuse in Care | ||
| Description: | A report with a detailed case study focusing on the need for reform within the culture of the workplace, the regulatory system and a call for legislation. With practical guidelines on whistleblowing policies. | ||
| Date Published: | 1997 | ||
| Price: | £20 Click here to order. | ||
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| Title: | Four windows on whistleblowing | ||
| Author: | Borrie, Sternberg, James, Brindle, Dehn | ||
| Publisher: | Public Concern at Work | ||
| Description: | Four articles exploring the issue of whistleblowing at work. | ||
| Date Published: | 1996 | ||
| Price: | £15.00 Click here to order | ||
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| Title: | Whistleblowing, Fraud and the European Union | ||
| Publisher: | Public Concern at Work | ||
| Description: | An analysis on the law and practice of tackling fraud in Europe. Commisioned by (DGXX) (Financial Control) of the European Commission. Reviews the approach to fraud detection and prevention including whistleblowing in the EU countries. | ||
| Date Published: | 1996 | ||
| Price: | Click here to open. | ||
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| Title: | The Secret Whistleblower in the Arms to Iraq Affair | ||
| Description: | A description of how a whistleblower warned the UK government that machine tools sold by a UK company to Iraq would be used for the production of weapons (in breach of UK government guidelines). It also describes how this played a crucial role in the UK government’s consideration of this issue. | ||
| Date Published: | February 1996 Click here to open |
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| Title: | Minding your own business | ||
| Author: | Winfield, Marlene | ||
| Publisher: | Social Audit | ||
| Description: | The original study which looks at how British companies regulate themselves and how they might do so in future. Introduction by Sir John Banham, then Director General of the Confederation of Business Industry. | ||
| Date Published: | 1990 | ||
| Price: | £6.50 Click here to order | ||
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