Council missing data on criminal record checks

A council does not know how many of its staff who require criminal record checks have had one completed, it has emerged.

Norwich City Council has been told to urgently find out who has undergone the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) process and who needs one.

There was missing data for 41 out of 54 members of staff whose job required an enhanced DBS check.

The local authority said: "There are no examples of the council putting anyone at risk because of a lack of DBS checks when they have been needed."

Council bosses faced pointed questions at a meeting of its audit committee on Tuesday night.

A report presented to the committee said the council was "not able to identify whether all staff in posts requiring a DBS check have had one".

It described a process in which the data was manually compiled on to a spreadsheet but was incomplete.

A private company has been brought in to complete the process.

The problem was identified in July 2023 following an audit into the council's safeguarding arrangement, councillors were told.

But the audit report said since then, there had been no progress reports and the issues had not been escalated.

Alex Catt, the Green group leader, described the situation as "shocking".

"It has been known to the council for at least two years with seemingly nothing done about it," he told the BBC.

"The council works with lots of vulnerable people and we need to know the background of the people working with them."

When asked how long this situation had been going on for at the meeting, executive director of human resources Dawn Bradshaw replied: "I don't have the answer to that."

Emily Yule, the council's executive director of resources, said: "This is the first DBS audit we've had in the 20 years I have been here."

The checks are undertaken by the DBS agency, previously known as the Criminal Records Bureau.

According to the Home Office, employers can request one in order "to make safer recruitment decisions" particularly when employing people working with children and vulnerable adults.

Basic DBS checks reveal spent and unspent convictions, cautions and reprimands held on the Police National Computer.

Enhanced checks include "additional information held by local police that is considered relevant to a specific role".

A spokesperson for Norwich City Council said DBS checks were a "serious matter to get right" and claimed that "all of our people who needed a DBS check, have had one".

"There are no examples of the council putting anyone at risk because of a lack of DBS checks when they have been needed," the statement continued.

"We fully accept we were slow in providing information to audit colleagues about DBS checks and that our record keeping needed to be improved.

"Both of these matters have been picked up and are successfully being addressed."

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