Dear Peter,

 

Subject:          Review of Arrangements to safeguard & Promote the Rights & Welfare of Young People in Wales.

 

We are extremely concerned that, according to an article in the current Community Care, you appear to have completed your Report on the above. As you will be reminded from the attached letter to you from Freedom to Care in June last year, we expressed a not unreasonable expectation that our organisation would be asked to formally invited to submit our views, based on our experience working with whistleblowers in Wales. At no stage have we been contacted by the Commission to discuss either formally or informally our views on the situation in Wales and how best to address to continued expulsion from their jobs in Welsh Local Authorities of whistleblowers            seeking to advocate on behalf of children and other vulnerable service users.

We are aware that these issues raise potentially embarrassing questions for both senior Officers and Councillors in a number of Authorities, as well as Members and Ministers of the Assembly, who have failed to act on behalf of the interests of whistleblowers themselves being victimised when advocating on behalf of victims; it is significant that our original letter refers to the Sian Griffiths case, which you, the Assembly and the North Wales Police have been well aware of, but have not acted upon. As you are answerable to the Assembly, I trust those Members and Ministers, for whom rigorous investigations might bring discomforts, are not attempting to exert improper pressure on you and the Commission to be selective in what you examine and pursue. This applies to outstanding concerns in Authorities in both North and South Wales, as you know.

While we are glad that you have identified concerns we have had too, about the current performance of safeguards for children in Wales, we believe that Freedom to Care has significant views about how to address the ongoing failures of some Authorities in Wales. Please note our comment in our earlier letter about the abuse of existing Procedures in dealing with whistleblowers. I hope we hear from you in response to this.

Yours Faithfully,

 Chris Clode, National Co-ordinator, FtC.

Copy: Voices from Care

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To:       Peter Clarke, Children's Commissioner, Wales.                                  

20th June 2002

 

Dear Peter,

Subject:            Review of Arrangements to Safeguard and Promote the Rights & Welfare of Young People in Wales.

We note from the current Community Care that you are embarking on the above Review. As the oldest organisation in the UK devoted to advocacy and support of whistleblowers and the consequent  promotion of public accountability and ethics in the workplace, we would hope to be formally invited to submit our views on the operation of whistleblowing and complaints procedures in Wales. Given our active engagement with Local Authority whistleblowers on behalf of abused children in both South, as well as North Wales, and our experience across the UK, we would welcome being sent the terms of reference of your Review and the time-scale for responses.

We note that the "initial questionnaire" will be sent out to the twenty two social services departments. We wish to observe, from the start, that local authorities in Wales already with their own Whistleblowing Procedures have been at the centre of the harassment and otherwise disposal of whistleblowers; we have even speculated whether, in the worst cases, the Procedure actually becomes a way of early identification of "potential troublemakers."

Also, will voluntary and independent providers of child care services be consulted, as they are playing an increasing role in the direct work done with children and young people?

On another, and not unrelated point, I have received no reply from you to our letter of 11^th May, concerning Sian Griffiths and Waterhouse. The Panel that heard the Andy Sutton Employment Tribunal- at which the Sian Griffiths evidence surfaced- is due to give its ruling by the end of this week.

I would hope to hear from you soon- on both the Review and Sian Griffiths.

Yours Faithfully,

Chris Clode, National Co-Ordinator, Freedom to Care.

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