#CeDEM13 Day 2 afternoon, Reflections, Main Hall, Chair: Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen

1. Edinburgh
Council
Whistleblowing-­‐
A
Pe77on
for
Change
Pete
Gregson:
Council
employee
and
Ci7zen

2. Scandals
• TRAMS: cost twice as much for half the
distance
• Property Conservation: thousand home-
owners lodged complaints for unnecessary works,
with jobs awarded to favoured contractors for
backhanders
• Mortonhall: ashes of cremated babies
interred in mass grave

3. Solution:
• Whistleblowing Hotline
– answerable to elected members, not
senior management
– Campaigned for through Petitions Committee
• Allows citizens to affect operational
and policy matters

4. Council
Staff-­‐
Access
to
Democracy
• 5%
of
city’s
workforce
• Service
users
AND
service
providers
• May
campaign
on
services
they
deliver
• Less
access
to
democracy:
Paul
the
Binman
– Sacked
for
campaigning
– “gross
misconduct”
– “likely
to
cause
harm
to
the
council's
reputa7on”
• Social
Media-­‐
whole
new
risk