North Tyneside Council has sought “specialist” guidance on criminal background checks for its councillors following calls to implement them.
The council is seeking guidance on how mandatory DBS checks for councillors could be enforced. However, despite officers contacting the DBS Service, clarity has not emerged on how such a process would work.
Specialist advice awaited
The report states: “Unfortunately, the DBS response did not clarify their position with respect to elected members. The Head of Law and Governance has therefore sought specialist advice. This advice is awaited and will inform a further report to standards committee.”
While DBS checks for councillors are recommended as best practice by local authorities, they are not legally mandated. There is also no unified national position on implementing such checks, with councils having to make their own decisions on the issue.
Legislation change needed
In addition, the council’s report also stated that for enhanced DBS checks to become mandatory there would need to be a change in legislation. The council’s report does, however, state that Northumberland, Durham, and Sunderland councils currently use some form of DBS checking for their councillors.
A spokesperson for North Tyneside Council said: “Following a request from the Elected Mayor, our Monitoring Officer and Standards Committee are reviewing the legal and practical options for applying Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks to elected members.
“Because national legislation strictly governs who is eligible for different levels of DBS checks — and there is no statutory requirement for councillors to hold one — we are working carefully through the process to ensure any local policy we adopt is robust and compliant with the law.”
Different levels of checks
There are different levels of DBS checks that can be sought, ranging from a basic to an enhanced check with barred lists. Anyone can apply for their own basic check, but eligibility criteria apply in all other cases. A basic check costs £21.50, while the enhanced version is £49.50.
