Edinburgh's councillors have discussed 'major' allegations made by council staff in a meeting held privately.
Due to the sensitive nature of reports, which were compiled following disclosures made to Safecall, the council's external whistleblowing service, members of the Governance Risk and Best Value Committee (GRBV) agreed to debate them behind closed doors on Tuesday (June 14).
The private B agenda, which contained a whistleblowing monitoring report and two major investigation outcome reports, followed public proceedings where councillors were presented with new data on council whistleblowing.
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A source said the reports dealt with issues "across the council" including "one major matter which is subject to external investigation and police investigation."
Head of Legal for the City of Edinburgh Council, Nick Smith, said a "significant increase" in the practice of contacting the whistleblower service had been noted.
In the first quarter of this year between January and April, the hotline received 19 new complaints, three of which were labelled 'major/significant', whilst 13 were 'minor/operational', and the remaining three are still to be assigned a category.
It follows up upward trend in whistleblowing observed following two investigations into the culture of the council and how staff are supported when bringing forward allegations of misconduct and malpractice in the workplace.
Since October when QC Susanne Tanner released the findings of her first inquiry into former social worker and serial abuser Sean Bell, 40 disclosures have been made to Safecall, compared to 15 between April and September last year.
Mr Smith said the latest figures are "a positive sign that people feel able to bring matters forward".
He added: "We think the average should be around 35 per year based on benchmark information. Last year we exceeded that with around 45 but there was nine in relation to the same matter. This year to date we have have over 30 so if you extrapolate that out it looks like we could be on target for 60 to 70.
"I'm obviously still disappointed in some ways that people feel the need to come forward because as part of the overall plan what I'd like to see is a wholesale council culture change so that people can have the issues both raised and dealt with in what we call the first line."
Ms Tanner's second report found there was "not a universally positive, open, safe and supportive whistleblowing and organisational culture". Whilst noting improvements in the culture since the introduction of a whistleblowing policy in 2014, Ms Tanner made 50 recommendations towards making positive change.
Noting progress acting on the recommendations, a report to councillors said it could still be "some time" before change is fully implemented, adding there will need for "a period of transition from the old to the new model of working".
It added: "This may not match the expectations of those using or involved with the service however, who will not see wholescale change immediately.
"The Governance team continues to work with HR, Legal Services and Safecall to process and progress whistleblowing matters in the most effective way possible, however this small team also has a significant role in delivering the elected member related programme of work for the May 2022 elections."
Mr Smith said the council is in the process of recruiting new officers and note takers for the new dedicated investigations unit Ms Tanner recommended be set up.
He added three new governance officers have been recruited as part of the changes and a member of the legal team has been reassigned to concentrate on drafting the new whistleblowing policy. Furthermore, he told councillors the possibility of establishing a whistleblowing sub-committee would be explored.
"At the moment the system is seeing a significant amount of pressure in order to be able to run investigations, Mr Smith said, adding the council is doing its best to operate "in the spirit of Tanner."
He continued: "Although policy and procedures haven't changed we are trying, where possible, to implement things in a way we have been recommended to do so."
"It's not perfect at the moment but until we move to the new world it will be less imperfect."
A spokesperson for a group of council whistleblowers, formed in the wake of the Tanner inquiries, said: “It is of little surprise that there are a continued number of very serious allegations of abuse in the last few months. In our view this is either because these are historical incidents that people have been afraid to report in the past or incidents that have previously been insufficiently investigated.
“Or, despite the statements to the contrary by the Chief Executive, these are recent incidents and it’s because clearly nothing has changed in the Councils culture of abuse and cover-ups that was exposed by the recent Tanner inquiries.
“Our specific message to CEC and the people of Edinburgh is that we won’t stop our campaign for justice for the victims until there is a full Public Enquiry.
“It should be remembered that the vast amount of victims of such abuses are individuals that are vulnerable members of our community the CEC had a duty to protect.”
