The Public Services Commission has defended the government’s whistleblowing policy as “one of the strongest in the British Isles”.
They were speaking at the Select Committee on Whistleblowing Policy Implementation.
Rob Callister MHK, chair of the commission, told the committee: “If you look at the Isle of Man whistleblowing policy, it is, without doubt, one of the strongest in the British Isles.
“The only one that comes very close to the Isle of Man is Scotland.”
The policy was significantly updated in 2021 and again in October 2022, with further improvements made in 2025 to reflect changes to the Employment Amendment Act.
Reporting
Julie Bradley, executive director of the Office of Human Resources and secretary to the PSC, explained the reporting process: “On a monthly basis, I report to the PSC the number of PSC cases that are sitting under with PSC employees.
“That’s a different group of employees than the whole of government.”
Mr Callister emphasised the commission’s oversight role: “We now, as a board, have asked for the information.
“So instead of just getting the information once a year and then putting it into a PSC report, we have taken the proactive step in the last few months to actually get whistleblowing cases actually reported back to us monthly.”
The committee heard that mandatory training for staff had been introduced, initially set at five years before being reduced to three years.
Professor Augustine Okanlawon, non-political member of the PSC, said: “One of the things that will help is the training. It’s now become mandatory, so that hopefully that will reduce the expectation.”
The commission acknowledged that settlement agreements sometimes occur but said these were not necessarily linked to whistleblowing cases.
Mr Callister confirmed there had been 13 settlement agreements via the PSC in 2024-25, costing a total of £438,624.53.