Whistleblower Auditing Procedures

1. Receipt of Notification and Initial Assessment
   1. CL:AIRE can receive a notification of a project that may have incorrectly applied the DoW CoP via CL:AIRE’s Help Desk.
   2. Concerns may be raised by:
      • the Regulator (Environment Agency, National Resources Wales, Local Authority);
      • industry; or
      • a concerned third party.
   3. An Investigation Panel is set up to conduct an Initial Assessment of the complaint.
   4. In order to undertake an Initial Assessment CL:AIRE will require, as a minimum, the following:
      • site address including postcode, or National Grid Reference (Declaration timestamp if known);
      • the non conformance issue; and
      • the person / organisation that raised the issue.
   5. All details are held by CL:AIRE in confidence.
   6. The Investigation Panel may request additional information from the Qualified Person and / or Project Team to inform the Initial Assessment.
   7. A decision is made to either dismiss the complaint or proceed with the Investigation Panel Process in line with CL:AIRE’s Qualified Person and Project Team / User Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures.
2. Formal Request for Mitigating Evidence
   1. If the concern that has been raised occurred after the submission of the Declaration, the Qualified Person will be contacted for the details of the Project Team so that CL:AIRE can liaise with them directly.
   2. The Qualified Person and / or Project Team are contacted and informed of the concerns that have been raised. They are requested to coordinate a formal response and submit specific mitigating evidence and / or the full project documents for an audit, if required.
   3. The nature of the concern(s) will influence the type of mitigating evidence that is likely to be submitted. For example (non-exhaustive):
      • gate fees without regulatory agreement / approval - contingency arrangements and contracts;
      • movement of material in advance of a Declaration - tracking system and consignment tickets;
      • excavation of material in advance of a MMP - appropriately dated MMP and site logs;
      • brownfield materials moved under a Direct Transfer - a review of the Donor Site Site Investigation (logs & lab results), material acceptance records, validation testing and photographs;
      • numerous concerns identified or more clarity required - MMP and all associated project documents to enable a full audit.
3. Investigation Panel
   1. In line with CL:AIRE’s Qualified Person and Project Team / User Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, the Qualified Person’s and / or Project Team’s response, along with any mitigating evidence submitted, will be reviewed by an Investigation Panel.
   2. Where a decision is taken to conduct a full project audit, the audit findings will also be taken into consideration.
   3. The Investigation Panel will decide on the most appropriate course of action and may decide to:
      • dismiss the complaint (if the project is found to conform with the DoW CoP);
      • seek to resolve the issue without requiring more formal procedures; or
      • decide to hold a Disciplinary Meeting.
   4. The following will also be taken into consideration when deciding on the appropriate action:
      • minor / first offence - most likely a warning letter issued; or
      • second offence / gross misconduct - potential for the offender’s future use of the DoW CoP to be restricted, as per the disciplinary procedures.
   5. The outcome of the audit will remain on CL:AIRE’s records and will be taken into account in the event of further transgressions by a Qualified Person or Project Team.
   6. CL:AIRE does not replace the role of the regulator and the extent to which CL:AIRE can act is described within the Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures. Furthermore, the regulators may, and frequently do, carry out their own auditing works.
   7. All audit outcomes are made available to the regulators on request.