Whistleblowing in Schools - Find a freedom of information request

Can you please provide the number of whistleblowing concerns (and breakdown) in respect of only schools and not the council's wider business.

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you.

All schools have their own whistleblowing policies and procedures and typically LCC are only contacted where the caller feels it is inappropriate to contact e.g. the Head Teacher or a governor.

Also no time frame for the data is specified.

Please see below information for the last financial year and this part financial year.

The categories recorded by the register are:

• Fraud

• Conduct

• Dignity at Work

• Policy Breach

• Safeguarding

• Covid

• Other

01/04/2022 – 10/11/2022

Return: 0

01/04/2021 – 31/03/2022

Return:

Conduct: 6

Dignity at Work: 2

Other: 2

The total of 8 (conduct and dignity at work) issues raised 21/22 relate to 1 school only.

Contacts from schools are rarely made to the LCC central register regarding schools as they have their own internal procedures.

Typically they come to LCC only where staff/parents/stakeholders wish to raise concern and perhaps feel it is inappropriate to contact e.g. the Head Teacher or a governor.

The 2 ‘other’ concerns raised relate to 2 different schools and were respectively:

an administrative error and a scam perpetrated on the school.