Conduct panel’s email warning
Friday 15th May 2009, 11:30AM BST.
THE States Conduct Panel today expressed concern about an email culture among politicians.
It comes among the panel’s detailed findings into a complaint by Health and Social Services against Mike Hadley (pictured).
The panel has recommended he be cautioned for the language used in two emails critical of the department, of which he was a member at the time.
But he disputes the findings and, as a result, they will be debated by the States at the end of the month.
The dispute centred on the HSSD’s wheelchair service.
Unhappy with a press release it issued at about 3.30pm on 3 February, he emailed the officer who had sent it, copying in most other deputies, starting with: ‘The response to my press release is dishonest and is not the truth.’
At 9.15pm, he sent another email to Deputy Sam Maindonald, again copied to other members, part of which said: ‘The HSSD prevaricate and lie.’
The use of these words was ‘totally unparliamentary,’ according to the three-man panel. It decided it did breach the code, but was sufficiently minor to be settled by a caution.
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In the UK this Deputy would probably be protected by NHS whistleblowing laws providing he could prove that he was trying to improve care or protect the public and wasn’t doing it to be vindictive:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/workers/whistleblowing.htm
As it now turns out he was right about the wheelchair debacle – so one wonders what else he is going to be proved right about?
Does Guernsey have a whistlleblowing policy? At the moment it seems that a majority of our politicians are just trying to protect each other or their individual departments. It takes a brave man or woman to stand up and admit that sometimes mistakes are made or bad decisions are taken. Deputy Hadley resigned from the Board of Health so that he could do just this and i hope this will lead towards more transparency. He seems to have the ear of some public service staff so someone must think he is doing this for the good of the island and in an effort to improve things. Interesting times ahead…..
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Surely this e-mail was private and sent by Deputy Hadley to his fellow politicians. What about data protection? If he had a conversation in private and used ‘unparliamentary’ language would he be taken to task? It is pathetic ! The States should be dealing with the problems and not worrying about the strength of language being used in reporting problems.
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Some years ago an MP called another a liar. The then Speaker ruled the word as unparliamentary and a change of wording.
The response was to substitute “terminological exactitude” for the offending world.
Bit of a fuss about nothing especially as few of the public would have been aware of the original e mail.
Now, many will have the offending word fixed in their mind.
Bit of an own goal?
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