Steve Darling

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I congratulate the hon. Member for South Dorset (Lloyd Hatton) on obtaining this extremely important debate. We have heard quality information from colleagues around the Chamber on how this matter needs to be tackled for the common good of the United Kingdom. Clearly, the law is not strong enough on whistleblowing. People leave themselves open to harm if they do the right thing. As colleagues have said, the Government should have their backs, and I look forward to hearing the Minister’s comments. Colleagues have highlighted that there needs to be a change of culture. Some parts of the aviation industry are very good on their culture: among air traffic controllers, there is openness and transparency. Things are shared not just when there are crashes, but when near misses happen and lessons can be learned. We need exactly that openness and transparency in industry and in society more generally. Whistleblowers cast a light into dark corners. I want to reflect on the occasions during my time as a servant of Torbay that I have come across whistleblowers who have had a positive impact. I sat on a tribunal in respect of a social worker; whistleblowers had played a significant role in the local authority’s parting ways with him, and he was struck off because of the issues that whistleblowers raised. Waste management in Torbay is another area where a whistleblower stepped out from among his colleagues and shared some challenges. That was some years ago, and matters were taken in hand and positive changes made. On the international scene, one has only to look at Boeing and a gentleman called John Barnett, who had worked for the company for more than 30 years as a quality control manager. He blew the whistle about serious concerns, yet sadly he was not protected and he ended up committing suicide a little over a year ago. Those are some of the real challenges that we see, both close to home for me in Torbay and internationally, and examples of how whistleblowers act in the best interests of our communities. Non-disclosure arrangements often play a part in this world. They are meant to be purely about intellectual property rights, but they are often used to silence people. I experienced a situation a few years ago in which, due to my disability, there was wrongdoing that could have been taken to the law. Compensation was paid, which I passed on to charities of my choice, but I still had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, even though the company in question had picked up better ways and should have been sharing that. Liberal Democrats want an office of the whistleblower to be created, and we want laws on whistleblowing to be strengthened so that people are protected, but most of all we need a culture change, with a culture of belief and support for whistleblowers. As colleagues have said throughout the debate, they do so much good for our society as a whole.