Explanatory note

This Order amends the Schedule to the Public Interest Disclosure (Prescribed Persons) Order 2014 (“the 2014 Schedule” and the “2014 Order”).

Part IVA (Protected Disclosures) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (“the 1996 Act”) provides protection for workers who suffer a detriment or are dismissed as a result of blowing the whistle by making a qualifying disclosure in accordance with any of sections 43C to 43H of the 1996 Act. (‘Qualifying disclosure’ has the meaning given in section 43B of the 1996 Act.)

The broad effect of the 2014 Order, taken with section 43F of the 1996 Act, is that a worker potentially protected by the provisions of the 1996 Act will be protected by the 1996 Act if he or she makes a qualifying disclosure to a person prescribed in the 2014 Order reasonably believing that the failure disclosed is in the public interest and falls within the matters in respect of which that person is prescribed and that the information disclosed, and any allegation contained in it, are substantially true. The 2014 Schedule lists the prescribed persons and the matters in respect of which they are prescribed for the purposes of section 43F.

This Order amends the 2014 Schedule to make the Secretary of State for Education a prescribed person in respect of matters relating to the educational institutions in England specified in article 2 of this Order.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.