Ombudsman Services / The Ombudsman Association - www.whistleblowerprotection.eu. (671)

To the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary / Chair of Ombudsman Services / Chair of the Ombudsman Association.

For Clarity - Attempt 671.

671. Ombudsman Services / The Ombudsman Association - www.whistleblowerprotection.eu

Dear Mr Clark, Lord Tim Clement Jones and the Rev Shand Smith,

Have you taken that great stride yet and signed the petition to give protection to whistleblowers both in the public the private sectors?

It is a simple matter of Trust, Freedom and Democracy.

Mr Clark, Lord Tim Clement Jones and Rev Shand Smith, do you not agree with the European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, when she said,

"The public needs to know that the EU institutions (we are all Europeans whether we like it or not as are our institutions) welcome whistleblowers and protect whistleblowers." 

Q. Rev Shand Smith, your organisation, Ombudsman Services, was a member of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association, at a time when you were expected to have a whistleblowing policy but didn't. How was this possible?

Q. Rev Shand Smith, you are Chair of the Ombudsman Association which once had as a requirement for membership that all ombudsman schemes have a whistleblowing policy. Why is that no longer the case?

Q. Rev Shand Smith, why have you removed the right of all those working in ombudsman schemes to the protection a whistleblowing policy?

Q. Rev Shand Smith, Evelyn Regner MEP has said that whistleblowing policies are, "a question of political will not a question of legal basis." Why did you take the political decision to remove that right from all those who work in British and Irish ombudsman schemes?Q. Rev Shand Smith, why have the organisations you manage taken a governance journey that is diametrically opposed to the one advocated by the European Ombudsman?

Q. Rev Shand Smith, why do you have so little faith in your workforce?

Caron Lindsay's article in LibDem Voice, "Rennie calls on Justice Secretary to end, 'chilling' Police whistleblower policy" is a timely intervention, alerting us to the direction one powerful and increasingly unaccountable hierarchy is attempting to take us.

She says,

"Scottish Liberal Democract leader, Willie Rennie, has called for the intervention of the Justice Secretary and Scottish Police Authority to ensure that the police hierarchy are not free to silence internal critics after it was revealed that new guidance has been issued within Police Scotland that will crack down on whistleblowers."

(www.libdemvoice.org-rennie-calls-on-justice-secretary-to-end-chilling-police-whistleblower-policy.)

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, that is indeed chilling and reminds us of East Germany's Stasi and Russia's FSB. Why are you chairing a regime that also cracks down on internal dissidents?

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, why does the organisation you Chair more closely resemble that of Police Scotland's than of Emily O'Reilly's?

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones. how can the British and Irish public have any trust in private redress that is policed in such a way?

The Prime Minister once promise to step up, challenge vested interests and right wrongs. However, saying she was committed to democratising business was one thing but delivering on it something entirely different.

She put the whistle to her lips but forgot to blow.

Mr Clark, in the Guardian article, "UK government defends apparent U-turn over workers on boards" (www.theguardian.com/business/2016/nov/29/government-defends-apparent-u-turn-over-workers-on-boards) you say,

"we're not going to make it happen."

Q. Mr Clark, if you're not going to make it happen then surely it's a U-turn because there would be workers' representatives sitting on boards but there aren't. Why the word, "apparent"?

You went on to say that instead you wanted a system that,

"included a non-executive director who has an explicit obligation to engage with the workforce."

Q. Mr Clark, doesn't this harken back to the days when the rich directors sat at their tables and the poor workers stood locked outside the gates? Is what you are proposing a shining example of a Brexit Britain where we have all taken back control ?

Company directors, the Police, private redress schemes and NHS managers are very successfully and very stealthily taking ever greater control and silencing the potential for criticism as they do so.

In response to your quite obvious U-turn Mr Clark, (otherwise things would be very different) Frances O'Grady stated,

"it is clear from the poll the TUC is publishing today, that the majority of people want the prime minister to keep her promise to have elected members on boards. That's not just because it's the right thing to do, it is better for business too."

Q. Mr Clark, why do politicians make promises they know they can't keep? Why was the prime minister unable to stand up, challenge vested interests and right the wrongs of those who, without consultation, remove workers' rights to freedom of expression and meaningful democratic representation on the boards of the companies they work for?

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign believes that a, "fair" "just" and "independent" system of alternative dispute resolution would have; workers on sitting on the company's board, consumers sitting on the company's board, a whistleblowing policy which everyone knew had an Emily O'Reilly-like legitimacy, published its minutes. asked every complainant to rate their customer journey, put every case on the internet for public scrutiny and gave complainants the right to challenge decisions - ie a system that the public could Trust.

It's still not too late to sign the petition. Yes You Can.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Gilbert - Workstock Number - 510458.

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is at: www.blogger.com and www.facebook.com - Ombudsmans Sixtyone-percent.