Shropshire Council sees increase in whistleblowing reports
Other themes included council tax, non-domestic rates, safeguarding, tenancy fraud, theft or fraud, and planning or building control.Of these reports, 10 resulted in management action, with seven having "no case to answer", while 10 are ongoing and one has been listed as "not-applicable".Speaking at Shropshire Council's audit committee, Councillor Malcolm Myles-Hook asked what was going to change to bring the numbers down next year, and if members had learned the outcome of actions.Executive director James Walton said the council did not report what the management actions were, and they could be from "very minor to quite major"."There is an argument of whether more whistleblowing is good or not," he told the committee."It's about accessibility. If lots of people blow the whistle and no action is taken as a result of it, then there's something wrong. All we can do is report what it is."What we don't want going out is 'if you blow the whistle in some way, you're going to be identified'."
Councillor Duncan Kerr, who was chairing the meeting, said that members needed to have some information about what the outcome was, "otherwise what's the point in having a policy?"He also asked if there could be an investigation into whether a call handling company could be used to handle reports over the phone, and if there could be some clarification to staff about what the policy was. That was approved by members.Meanwhile, Councillor Kerr confirmed that in 2024-25, there were no whistleblowing reports related to the North West Relief Road.
This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.
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UK network of aid organisations, Bond, say na women and children for di most marginalised communities go pay di highest price. "E dey concerning say bilateral funding for Africa, gender, education and health programmes go drop. Di most marginalised communities for di world, particularly dose wey dey experience conflict, and women and girls, go pay di highest price for di political choices," Bond policy director Gideon Rabinowitz tok. "For dis time wen di US don stop all gender programming, di UK suppose to be stepping up, not stepping back." Di UK govment explain say di cuts follow "a line-by-line strategic review of aid" by di minister, focusing on "prioritisation, efficiency, protecting planned humanitarian support and live contracts while ensuring responsible exit from programming wia necessary". Di Foreign Office say bilateral support for some kontris go decrease and multilateral organisations wey no dey perform well go chop funding cuts. But dem neva announce di particular kontris wey go dey affected. Official UK figures show say at 0.5% of GNI, di UK aid budget by 2027 suppose be around £15.4 billion, but based on dis new target of 0.3%, di amount go be just about £6.1 billion. Wen di goment bin first make di announcement in February, some opposition members of di parliament including di Leader of di Opposition, Kemi Badenoch, bin welcome di increase for defence spending and she also support di decision to reduce di UK aid budget in order to finance it. Oda politicians like di leader of di Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, support to increase defence spending, but e say cutting di aid budget too much go "leave a vacuum for Russia and China to fill". However, Anneliese Dodds, wey be di International Development Minister dat time, resign from her position afta di decision. She say reducing aid funding fit lead to a UK pull-out from plenty African, Caribbean and Western Balkan kontris, at a time wen Russia and China dey increase dia own actions for dis kontris. Why di UK dey cut foreign aid? According to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, govment go use di money wey dem save from aid funding to increase dia defence spending to 2.5% of dia GDP by 2027 and 3% by 2030. E mean say di UK go dey spend extra £13.4 billion on defence from 2027. Anoda reason, according to di UK Trade Minister Douglas Alexander, be say di money no too dey again and di UK public no longer support too much spending on international aid. Even if moni no dey tight, you go need to make di argument for investment in foreign aid, oga Alexander tell BBC for one interview in June. "I tink we don lose dat argument at various points. We get interest to build a stable, more equal, more safe world for our future generations, but public consent don withdraw," e tok. Wetin dis go mean for Africa and which kontri go be worst hit? Di UK dey provide support in terms of aid to Africa across plenty sectors like health, education, governance, humanitarian assistance and more. Malaria No More UK, one UK charity organisation wey dey help combat malaria across Africa, say di cutting of funding go "reset di clock on di progress wey we don make in saving children lives by fighting malaria". Astrid Bonfield, wey be di oga for Malaria No More UK tok for one statement say: "We must remember say even though international aid na for abroad we dey spend am, di benefits na for home here we dey feel am because e dey make di UK safer, healthier and more prosperous." Though di goment no mention kontris wey go dey more impacted by dis cuts, but kontris wey dey experience serious crisis and climate change wahala like Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, Niger, Ethiopia, etc, fit feel di impact more. Di Nigeria govment bin sign eight partnership agreements wit di UK govment dis year wey worth about N589 billion. E neva dey clear now weda dis agreements go dey impacted by di decision to cut foreign aid funding. Oda western kontris wey don reduce aid funding Apart from di US where President Trump bin cancel more dan 80% of all programmes wey USAID bin dey carry out, France, Germany, and Sweden don also reduce dia foreign aid funding well-well between 2024 and 2025. According to Donor Tracker - one website wey dey track all foreign aids wey kontris dey give - France cut dia Official Development Assistance (ODA) budget by $1.5 billion for dia 2025 budget. Dis represent 23% decrease to compare to dia 2024 budget. Germany for dia 2025 budget also reduce di funding for dia ODA-relevant ministries by about 19.8 billion Euros. Similarly, for September last year, di Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Benjamin Dousa reveal say dia annual ODA allocation go drop by about $291 million 2026-2028.
