Ms Ciara Morgan:

It comes to the heart of the legislation. What we have learned in the negotiations on the directive with our colleagues in the EU is that those best placed to address a report in the first instance are usually the employers. As my colleague, Mr. Menton, said in the opening statement, in many instances, the report is addressed, but sometimes it is not even recognised as a protected disclosure, the wrongdoing is addressed, and everybody moves on with no penalisation.

However, when it goes wrong it can go very wrong. Then you have this stepped process. You can make a report to your employer. If they fail in their obligation to address that report then you have recourse to get what we call a prescribed person, which the EU refers to as a competent authority, which generally tends to be the regulator in that area. In instances where that interaction fails, which should be very unusual, you then have recourse to move into a more public forum. To be clear, that stepped process does not stop individuals and workers from going directly to the prescribed person. That is always an option as well if it is his or her preference.