Criminal checks for councillors approved in East Devon but effectiveness questioned

Criminal checks of East Devon’s councillors are to go ahead.

The district council has agreed the need for a basic Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, which discloses unspent convictions and cautions.
While councillors must consent to the check, because the requirement is a formal protocol in the council’s constitution, failure to comply could amount to a potential breach of the code of conduct.
Checks will be carried out when councillors are first elected and then at each subsequent election.
But Cllr Roy Collins (Liberal Party, Honiton St Michaels) questioned the value of a basic check, which doesn’t provide the level of detail of an enhanced check, such as ‘spent’ convictions covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, and the possible inclusion of police intelligence that a chief officer considers necessary to disclose.
“I feel it’s far too late, as you are only going to pull up people that have been convicted and already punished for whatever they have done,” he said.
“We need to find people committing offences that are not known about. You would have never have found Humphreys [a former councillor later convicted of child sex offences]. You wouldn’t have found him before.”
Mr Humphreys was subsequently sentenced to 21 years in prison and placed indefinitely on the sex offenders register.
An external report by Verita published last year said Humphreys didn’t tell the council he was under police investigation or that he had been arrested and eventually charged.
“The responsibility for maintaining the standards of behaviour expected of an elected representative was his alone,” the report said.
“That he failed to do so was not the fault of officers and councillors
It continued: “In the absence of any such concerns being raised about Humphreys, there was no action that officers or councillors could have taken,” it said.
The decision to seek basic DBS checks for councillors in East Devon comes amid a national review of the checks last year by former Norfolk chief constable Simon Bailey.
Mr Bailey recommended that all unitary and upper tier councils conduct mandatory enhanced criminal checks of councillors who are being considered for appointment to any committee involved in decisions about children’s services or services for vulnerable adults.
While East Devon District Council is not a unitary or upper tier council, and does not carry out social services functions, it acknowledged it had “the ability to invite all members to undergo a basic DBS check.
“Whilst this is not mandatory, by including this protocol in the constitution, it will mean that failure to comply will result in a member being in potential breach of the code of conduct,” a report for councillors stated.