Checks for West Northamptonshire councillors
All will now undergo basic criminal record vetting
All elected members of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) will now be vetted with basic criminal record checks after calls for them heightened when five women made allegations of abuse against the ex-leader.
The authority has said the DBS checks were a key request during talks with domestic abuse charities directly after Jonathan Nunn resigned as Conservative leader earlier this year. Mr Nunn has strenuously denied the claims of abuse.
New leader, Adam Brown, said he hoped it would help to “establish trust” in the council and “demonstrate that none of us sat around this cabinet table have anything to hide”.
Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service said the checks are a “positive step forwards” and that they support any move to hold councillors to account.
As best practice, the council will undertake basic DBS checks for all councillors and enhanced criminal record checks would also be in place for elected members who have direct responsibility for decisions relating to children and vulnerable people.
Cllr Brown told his cabinet at a meeting on Tuesday (July 9): “I’ll address the elephant in the room which is obviously when we had the debates around the conduct of the previous leader there was a very strong demand from members of the public, charities, members of the council that we as a council adopt DBS checks.
“When I met with representatives of local domestic abuse charities one of their key asks of us was that we implement a policy of DBS checks for members.
“I’m pleased to say a little over five weeks later we’re fulfilling that promise to them. I think it’s an important step to take to establish trust in this council and this executive and to demonstrate that none of us sat around this cabinet table have anything to hide and nor do any of our members on key committees.”
A basic DBS shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions, whereas the enhanced method shows all spent and unspent convictions and cautions plus any information held by local police that is considered relevant to the role.
If checks are undertaken and offences are found WNC’s chief executive and monitoring officer will assess the risk and seriousness of the incident and act accordingly.
Cllr Keith Holland-Delamere (Labour, Billing and Rectory Farm) added: “There is responsibility on us as leaders of our community to exhibit the highest levels of public service and transparency.
“I think us voluntarily taking this step is an important move to show that we are really set on making sure that we exhibit the highest levels of safety in our communities.”
Documents state the costs of the checks will be funded from existing budgets and will be in the region of £3,000 altogether. Information will be made available publicly about when DBS checks have been completed, but any information concerning the results of the checks will remain confidential.
CEO of Northamptonshire Domestic Abuse Service Dr Rachel Duncan said:
“We really support this move and welcome any actions to ensure councillors are held to account and follow the principles of councillors’ code of conduct.
“It doesn’t enable suspension of councillors if they are accused of alleged abuse, but it is a positive step forwards and we look forward to our continued work with the Council to tackle domestic abuse.”