DBS checks for North Yorkshire councillors proposed

A motion to be put to North Yorkshire Council members will call for the authority to carry out standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks on all new and existing councillors.

The motion will be proposed at the full council meeting by Green Party councillors Kevin Foster and deputy group leader Arnold Warneken on Wednesday.

Cllr Foster, who represents the Hipswell and Colburn division, said he felt the authority needed to do the same checks on councillors as it did with staff and contractors working with vulnerable people.

He added: “We have people coming to join as councillors and nobody knows them — who’s going to do some checks on them?

“We do it for officers so why not councillors. What have we got to hide?”

The Green Party group leader at County Hall said he had already mentioned the idea to senior members at the Conservative-led authority but the proposal had not been taken forward, so they were now making a formal request for checks to be considered.

Cllr Warneken, who represents the Ouseburn division, said the councillors were not putting forward the motion to “catch anyone out”.

“I’m very impressed with what the council does in terms of safeguarding and to ensure people are not put at risk, for example by ensuring taxi drivers are safe to have passengers travelling with them.

“As councillors, we are often invited into people’s homes. They may be vulnerable or elderly, and you may be in their home on your own.

“It’s about transparency, confidence to the residents and accountability — it’s about giving residents the reassurance that we’re not a risk.”

The councillors said it would cost a little over £20 per councillor and less than £2,000 in total to check all 90 members.

The motion could be debated at the full council meeting or it could be sent to another committee to look into in more details.

DBS checks are not mandatory for councillors, but some local authorities have chosen to bring in basic, standard or enhanced checks in recent years.

Some councils have brought in the checks for all councillors while others have implemented policies requiring checks for councillors on committees dealing with children and vulnerable adults’ services.