Health minister cleared of bullying allegations

Lawrie Hooper was accused of creating a "toxic" workplace environment

The Isle of Man's health minister has been cleared of bullying allegations following an independent investigation.

In June, Annette Baker, the former vice chairman of the Health Services Consultative Committee, resigned after claiming Lawrie Hooper MHK had created a "toxic and adversarial environment".

Chief Minister Alfred Cannan launched an investigation after complaints were made.

However, he found the health minister "had not met the threshold" to be in breach of the government's code of conduct.

Process questioned

Mr Cannan told members of the House of Keys he was informed by the complaints commissioner, who is a senior member of the Manx bar, that "no breach had occurred".

He said the matter was now closed and "there is nothing more in my view to undertake".

Some MHKs have questioned the investigation process and called for greater "transparency".

Douglas Central MHK Chris Thomas expressed concern that during the investigation Mr Hooper had "full access" to submitted evidence about the claims while others had no such access.

He asked how there could be "any confidence" in the process when the evidence provided by the health minister was "untested".

Onchan MHK Julie Edge called for the full report from the investigation to be published.

But Mr Cannan said that if it was, the levels of redactions required would render it "unintelligible".

He said he was the only person with a copy of the report.