I apologise for not being here earlier when the subject of whistleblowing obviously came up in discussion. I was hoping to be here from the beginning, but I am afraid I am one of those caught by having an interest in another Bill—the Crime and Courts Bill—that is going through the Chamber. I waited until my interest had ceased there before coming here, for which I apologise.
I support this amendment very warmly. The more I hear of it from speakers from the Liberal Democrat Benches and the Cross Benches, as well as from the Official Opposition, the more strongly I feel that there is a gap in the whistleblowing legislation that needs to be filled.
The Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 was a Private Member’s Bill that would not have reached this House at all had it not been for the efforts of Richard Shepherd, still a Member of Parliament for Aldridge-Brownhills, who took up the cudgels, helped by the organisation Public Concern at Work, which still exists and does valuable work. When he had the support of the Commons, I was able to take on the task of putting it through the House of Lords. Several of my supporters at that time are sitting in this Room today, including my noble friend Lady Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, who has just spoken so helpfully on this amendment.
I feel that the gap in the whistleblowing legislation is a fundamental one that really needs to be filled. A whistleblower is protected against unfair dismissal if he is covered by the existing legislation and has reported on some wrongdoing in the workplace, but he cannot be protected from fellow employees. They may engage in bullying, harassment, or whatever you would like to call it, against the whistleblower for doing what many people in certain cultures within certain employee workforces would call “sneaking”. The whistleblower has snitched on fellow workers, and in many places of employment that is regarded as wrong and it is considered that the whistleblower deserves to be pushed around in every possible way. Making the employer responsible or vicariously liable—I am sorry to use that phrase if noble Lords are fed up with the lawyer language in this place—for the faults and errors in the culture of their workforce is what is needed. That will do the trick, making it in the employer’s own interests to ensure that victimisation, harassment and bullying does not take place. It will be a powerful deterrent if this amendment is passed.
A whistleblower can be affected adversely not only by his employer, for which there has now been protection for many years, but by fellow employees, and this amendment is meant to deal with that. My noble friend Lord Touhig was active in this area in the 1990s, before I was. If this amendment is carried it will be because he and Public Concern at Work have realised and understood that there is a gap that must be filled when we have the opportunity.
4.45 pm