The Public Interest & Register of PIDA Claims
Since 2000, Public Concern at Work has been working to ensure that the public has access to details of legal claims taken under the Public Interest Disclosure Act. Although the High Court has ruled that it is a matter of public interest and open justice that this information be publicly available, regulations have been changed on several occasions to keep secret legal claims from workers who may have been victimised for blowing the whistle on fraud, corruption and threats to health and safety. The links below describe the issues and chronicle some of the developments and our efforts.
The following items are in chronological order, with the most recent items first.
Blanket of secrecy
We briefed the House of Lords in advance of its debate on 25 February 2008 to lift the blanket of secrecy that means there is no information on the public record about 70% of claims brought under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Ombudsman castigates DTI over whistleblowing secrecy
A report from the Parliamentary Ombudsman has strongly criticised the Department of Trade and Industry for the “inherently misleading” way it introduced new rules that prevent the public learning about whistleblowing concerns raised under PIDA.
Parliament debates open justice and public interest in PIDA claims. In October 2004 both the House of Lords and House of Commons debated the important public interest issue of public access to claims taken under PIDA. Our briefing for these debates can be read by clicking here.
Routes to Resolution
In this response to a DTI consultation on dispute resolution and Employment Tribunal reform, we make our case for allowing the public access to PIDA claims on the register of Tribunal applications.
Public interest: open justice, closed government
A summary of PCaW’s discussions with government over access to public records about PIDA claims following a judicial review successfully taken by PCaW in April 2000.
Official: Government wrong on right to know
This press release of 19 April 2000 describes how the High Court quashed the Government’s decision to keep details of PIDA claims secret.
Judge’s secrecy order challenged
This press release of 2 February 2000 describes how the High Court gave PCaW the go ahead to challenge the decision to keep secret details of claims taken under PIDA.