Minister who was cleared of bullying told he should have defused 'tension'

Independent report published following HSCC concerns

A heavily redacted version of the report which clears the health minister of a bullying allegation has been published.

Lawrie Hooper was cleared of bullying and intimidation claims - alongside his departmental colleague MLC Tanya August-Hanson - following an investigation to determine whether he'd breached the ministerial code. 

Member of the Manx bar Alan Gough, who conducted the report, found that Mr Hooper 'flies closer to the sun by some margin than Ms August-Hanson'.

The document has been published today (18 March) following an investigation which the chief minister told the House of Keys last week had cost ‘a few thousand pounds'.

It was prompted by allegations made by some members of the Health Services Consultative Committee - a panel that scrutinises the Island's health services.

A complaint was made to the chief minister regarding two incidents in particular - a meeting held in June last year and a statement made in the House of Keys in October.

MEETING

The meeting was 'one of the required statutory meetings between the HSCC and the department and the minister and, on this occasion, was principally for the purpose of discussing the annual report of the HSCC which, by the time of the meeting, had been signed off and circulated to members of Tynwald'.

It was described as 'challenging' and members later alleged Mr Hooper had subjected them to 'an hour-long rant'.

While the report dismisses the complaints it does state the minister was able to, and should have, defused the tension at the meeting.

Mr Gough added that: "Mr Hooper would have been well advised to have exerted his influence on the meeting to make it more temperate."

KEYS

Separately, on 31 October 2023, Mr Hooper addressed the House of Keys.

Members of the committee argued he used his platform there to 'wrongly accuse an independent committee of lying in its annual report'.

This was again debunked by the independent report.

In his comments Mr Gough stated: "Was the Minister wrong and out of order to say what he did in the House of Keys on 31 October 2023? I think he was not wrong but it was a pretty shabby approach for him to take."

ROLE

The crux of the fallout appears to surround the definition of services and what the remit of the committee actually is.

As Mr Gough concludes: "It has become increasingly obvious to me that the fundamental issues between the DHSC, the minister and the HSCC relate to the definition of services."

He added: "The fundamental rift between the minister and the HSCC emanates from this basic misunderstanding. 

"I do think a great deal of angst could have been avoided if this legal opinion from the Attorney General's Chambers had been obtained a year earlier at least."

MINISTER SPEAKS

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan initially told the House of Keys if they wanted the report they would have to use the Freedom of Information process to obtain it saying the findings would be 'unintelligible' if released.

However he appeared to backtrack a day later saying: "The chief minister will publish the report of an independent investigation he commissioned into complaints made under the Government Code against the Minister for Health and Social Care Lawrie Hooper MHK and department member Tanya August-Hanson MLC."

Whole pages of the published version of the report are blanked out but Mr Hooper told Manx Radio he welcomes its publication either way:

You can read the redacted report HERE and you can hear more from Mr Hooper in our latest Newscast available HERE.

VACANCIES

The Health Services Consultative Committee is now advertising six vacancies after a number of resignations - you can find out more HERE.