A "comprehensive plan" to transform the workplace culture at Edinburgh Council and bring in new processes for handling allegations of abuse and misconduct has been welcomed by the council's Chief Executive.
Andrew Kerr said the council "owes it to the survivors" of abuse at the hands of former social worker and serial abuser Sean Bell, and to those whose allegations were ignored, to take forward the 50 recommendations made by QC Susanne Tanner in an independent review into culture and whistle-blowing.
READ MORE: Whistleblowers demand Edinburgh Council inquiry into 'workplace culture'
Published in December, it concluded that the culture of raising and responding to concerns of wrongdoing within Edinburgh Council is 'not universally positive, open, safe and supportive'.
But the inquiry was labelled a 'whitewash' by a group of whistle-blowers, who called for a full public inquiry into the council's handling of the case, while other councillors criticised the proposed changes and likened the report to something from the sitcom 'Yes Minister'.
At a full council meeting on Thursday (February 10), Mr Kerr tabled a report outlining how the changes recommended in the Tanner report will be implemented - including a plan to spend £10 million on the improvements over the next five years.
"Ms Tanner's review highlighted that we had made considerable strides to improve our whistle-blowing and organisational culture since 2014 but she also highlighted significant work that needed to be done to make and sustain further improvements and positive change," he said.
"We owe it to the survivors and to the others impacted by the issues highlighted in these reports to take forward the recommendations the best we can."
Officers grouped areas for improvement under five themes: "Policy Development and Review, Our Approach to Investigations, Training and Development, Systems and Processes and a Redress Scheme designed to compensate those who suffered as a consequence of the actions of Bell."
Mr Kerr added: "This is not going to be easy but through this process we have an opportunity to shape our culture to be as positive, open, safe and supportive as it can be and allow colleagues to feel confident in raising issues that are properly investigated and responded to.
"It's worthwhile reminding council again that this is on the basis that we have accepted the recommendations in full and as indicated in previous council meetings there's a significant cross-over between the Sean Bell inquiry and the culture review and the report addresses all of those issues together and sets out a comprehensive plan to address them both now and on an ongoing basis."
However, a group of council whistle-blowers who got together in the wake of the Tanner Inquiry labelled the process a "whitewash".
Christine Scott, a former community programme manager at Castlebrae Community High who came forward with allegations against a headteacher in 2014, told councillors the terms of reference of the whistle-blowing review were "narrow and restrictive in allowing the truth to surface".
"This allowed the alleged perpetrators of serious malpractice, cover-up and corruption to remain unaccountable".
"We believe all the facts in these cases were not sought and this resulted in suppressing the truth. We believe the council did not adhere to public interest disclosure legislation whilst investigating the whistle-blowing claims, the whistle-blowers were not protected, they experienced traumatic workplace situations to cope with without support and they feared for their continued employment, their mental and physical health and also their financial health."
Ms Scott added in some cases abuse victims and whistle-blowers were required to sign non-disclosure agreements, which she said was "another sinister tool used to suppress the truth coming out".
The Chief Executive said a "vast majority" of her points are answered in Ms Tanner's reports, adding that NDAs are "fairly common process" and "don't stop people from going to the regulator".
Edinburgh City Council leader Adam McVey said: "This is all about trying to improve the culture of our organisation and to quote one of the answers that the Chief Executive gave earlier, parts of this process will be about implementing change for the long term but parts of this process is about an iterative, continual change.
"No organisation - particularly as big and as complex as a council that deals with such lifeline services and so many vulnerable communities within our city - should be resting on its laurels in terms of its culture, we should always drive for improvement."
The council's Conservative group leader Iain Whyte was critical of the 'next steps' report put to committee, saying there is a "whole page of policies" with nothing to do with whistle-blowing and culture.
"When I read this report I thought I was in an episode of yes Minister," he added.
"We need to put a lot more urgency into this process. We need to be able to have systems that record things to ensure staff and clients are protected.
"This report fails to properly address what I believe whistle-blowers were asking for. We need to do better for the people of Edinburgh and everyone who's been damaged by this sorry process."
Tory Councillor Joanna Mowat recalled a new process for whistle-blowing was introduced in 2014 "because we had problem".
"We put the policies in place but we don't enforce the management around them," she said.
"It is only by working together and asking and making this our priority that we will address this and not be back here in five years time, because I do not want to be back here."
Councillors agreed to review a report on the progress towards implementing the recommendations every six months.
