23.Section 7 of this Act inserts a new section 9G into the 2005 Act.
24.This new section empowers the Scottish Ministers to impose a condition of funding that the Council must, when making a payment to a fundable post-16 education body under section 12(1) of the 2005 Act, require that the fundable body has in place a whistleblowing procedure which meets the criteria set out in section 9G(1).
25.Under section 9G(2), a fundable body must notify the Council when it has received information through its whistleblowing procedure that suggests a material risk to continuity of learner provision or financial sustainability. That notification may be made on a confidential basis.
26.Under section 9G(4) the Council must consider whether any action is required as a result of any notification it receives, and record any actions it takes in turn. In addition, the Council’s annual report (under paragraph 18 of schedule 1 of the 2005 Act) must include an anonymised summary of the notifications received during the financial year under section 9G(2).
Commentary on Provisions Part 2 – Functions of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council Section 7: Duty to place conditions on funding: whistleblowing