Three county councillors in Northumberland yet to undergo DBS checks
Almost all councillors in Northumberland have undergone disclosure and barring service background checks – but three unidentified members are yet to do so.
There is no indication as to which councillors have not been through the process.
Councillors in Northumberland are encouraged to undertake DBS checks upon election, but there are no statutory rules forcing them to do so.
Labour leader Coun Scott Dickinson, Druridge Bay ward, said: “I’m saddened to see it is not 100% of councillors. It would give groups confidence that their members have been checked.”
Reform UK councillor Stephen Flower, who represents the Hartley ward, added: “I think if anybody hasn’t had a DBS check, it should be on the council’s website because it should be public information. There’s no doubt about it.”
In September, the council’s monitoring officer Stephen Gerrard said he would be “chasing up” the three members who had not undergone the checks, but that at some point it would be necessary to “conclude that they do or do not wish to have one”.
Mr Gerrard – the council’s top lawyer – declined to name the members, arguing that it would be “wrong to do so” and not undergoing the checks was a “personal choice”.
Following pressure to name the councillors from Labour councillor Lawrence O’Donnell, Mr Gerrard said councillors could add the information to their web page and residents could “draw their own conclusions”.
Council leader Glen Sanderson said: “I will ask the monitoring officer about the publication because I see no reason either why they shouldn’t be published.”