“We can’t release the public cost of our inquiry, because whistleblowers would be blamed,” Catholic academy trust argues in response to FOI

Nicholas Postgate Catholic Multi-Academy Trust also says its board did not have sight of report of what seems a substantive investigation, while also disclosing nearly £150,000 of settlements featuring Non-Disclosure Agreements over four years.

A Catholic multi-academy trust which commissioned a mysterious inquiry featuring multiple whistleblowers will not release its full findings – because it says its board never had access to them.

Further, it will not release the cost of the investigation to the taxpayer, arguing that to do so would risk whistleblowers themselves being blamed, even though these individuals have not been named.

The result of my Freedom of Information request to the Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust (NPCAT) leaves the public in the dark about an investigation which seems significant, despite all academy trusts having to abide by the Nolan Principles of Public Life, one of which is openness.

Experts in this field have questioned both aspects of this FOI response, one arguing that it was difficult to see how trust board members could have taken their responsibilities to take whistleblowing seriously without having seen the report they commissioned.

Separately, the trust did disclose that it had spent nearly £150,000 on non-contractual payments to former employees featuring Non-Disclosure Agreements over the past four years.