A union leader has called for an independent panel to be set up to review all government whistleblowing cases.

Debbie Halsall, regional officer for trade union Unite, told the select committee on whistleblowing policy that the current system allows departments to ‘mark their own homework’ - and staff who raise concerns are left exposed with no protection.

Ms Halsall said: ‘Staff making disclosures often face punishment rather than protection.

‘A system that investigates itself cannot provide genuine protection and as such is marking its own homework.’

She said the human resources department is part of government and so ‘can’t be independent’.

‘Whistleblowing it managed internally from start to finish - that is unacceptable,’ she said.

Ms Halsall said there was no independent reporting route and no guarantee of anonymity. She said individuals had been left exposed.

‘I’ve seen the fall-out on many occasions,’ she said.

She said in some whistleblowing-related cases, individuals cannot continue working as their employment ends through a settlement agreement containing confidentiality clauses.

‘The effect of these agreements was to prevent individuals from speaking out about their whistleblowing experience, removing transparency and organisational learning, which are then dumbed down from whistleblowing to just a grievance,’ she said.

She claimed whistle-blowers were ‘put back in a lion’s den’ adding : ‘That’s what happens because it’s incestuous, the behaviour, the nepotism and everything that runs through this. I see no accountability.

‘The very fabric of what this policy is about is the protection of the departments, it is not the protection of the whistleblower - and that needs to stop.’

Ms Halsall said that in some cases representatives from the Attorney General’s chambers have attended meetings connected to the handling or resolution of whistleblowing cases.

‘This highlights the power imbalance experienced by individuals whose whistleblowing protection has fallen away,’ she said.

‘Until whistleblowing arrangements are independent, protected and trusted they will not provide genuine protection.

‘We are asking for an independent panel to review all whistleblowing and I don’t see why an trade union cannot sit within that independent panel.’

Asked about the culture in government when faced with reports of health and safety failures, she replied: ‘If you’re liked, you’re liked and you will be supported - if you’re not, look out.’

Tynwald agreed to set up the select committee in October last year to investigate the implementation of a 2021 resolution on whistleblowing.

That resolution resulted in the Manx legislation on protected disclosures being updated to include a public interest test for the first time.

Earlier, the committee heard evidence from Attorney General Walter Wannenburgh and Philip Farrar, solicitor in the AG’s Chambers.

Asked by committee chairman Julie Edge whether the island’s whistleblowing legislation is as good as it could be, Mr Farrar replied: ‘The recent changes were only implemented a few months ago so it’s too early to say what effect they will have.’

He said the introduction of a public interest test was unlikely to limit the number of qualifying whistleblowing cases in the public sector.

Mr Farrar said whistleblowing was not about raising a complaint but about providing information.