§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps employees in Wales of health service bodies, local authorities or voluntary organisations may take to raise concerns relating to patient or client treatment, to malpractice or to fraud.
§ Mr. Gwilym JonesIn the NHS, employees are encouraged to take up their concerns through all levels of management within the employing authority or NHS trust in accordance with local procedures designed to ensure such concerns are dealt with fairly and thoroughly. A copy of guidance issued last June is in the Library of the House.
Every local authority has to appoint a monitoring officer who has a duty to prepare a report to the authority if it appears to him/her that an action or omission by the authority is or is likely to be illegal or amount to maladministration. The authority must consider his/her report before deciding what action to take. A local authority's chief finance officer has a similar duty with regard to matters of financial propriety. An employee of an authority could bring his or her concerns to the attention of the monitoring officer or the chief finance officer.
It is also open to any person, including employees of a particular local authority, to approach the independent external auditor appointed by the Audit Commission to that particular authority.
Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru—National Museum of Wales Twelve months review—January to December 1993—Visitors numbers Branch Actual 1992 1992 Variance per cent. Main Building, Cathays Park 266,743 255,601 11,142 4.4 Welsh Folk Museum, St. Fagans 413,840 349,164 64,676 18.5 Amgueddfar Gogledd, Llanberis 77,079 77,082 (3) 0.0 Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum 67,971 66,521 1,450 2.2 Roman Legionary Museum, Caerleon 47,181 39,079 8,102 20.7 Museum of the Welsh Woollen Industry, Dre-fach 23,026 21,835 1,191 5.5 Segontium Roman Fort Museum 10,571 10,127 444 4.4 Graham Sutherland Gallery 10,551 10,457 94 0.9 Turner House, Penarth 10,855 13,012 (2,157) (16.6) Welsh Slate Museum 24,165 25,065 (900) (3.6) Total 951,982 867,943 84,039 9.7