Not all council staff convictions recorded

'No legal requirement'

WEST Berkshire Council does not record information about criminal convictions for all of its employees.

However, the local authority said it knows of 11 convictions or cautions among its staff.

The information was revealed via a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Newbury Weekly News, which the council had initially refused to answer.

The offences include obstructing powers of search/fraudulent evasion of prohibition on importation of drugs in 1978, assault/ criminal damage/burglary and theft in 1989/1971/1968, GBH/ criminal damage in 1981/1983, purchased stolen goods/failure to stop after an accident in 2003/2011, caution for causing a disturbance in 2005, assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 2006, disqualified from driving in 2006, and drink-driving offences in 2001, 2009, 2010 and 2013.

The FOI was one of two submitted by the NWN. The other, submitted on the same day, asked how many council staff lived in West Berkshire and how much the authority had spent on staff commutes last year.

The council treated the separate requests as one and refused them for “placing an unjustified burden on the authority”.

It also said the requests were “vexatious” and a “fishing expedition” to return information of interest based on pot luck.

Despite conceding that there has been “past wrong-doing by some staff” the council claimed there was not “a significant enough public interest to warrant the processing of this request”.

The NWN asked the council to treat both requests separately and, failing that, to conduct an internal review into its decision to refuse the FOIs.

However, the local authority did respond to questions about criminal convictions, saying that it does not record information on criminal convictions for all employees.

The council does not record information on criminal convictions for all councillors as councillors are not subject to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checking process, unless they sit on the council’s foster panel or the adoption panel.

It also does not record information on whether staff or councillors are currently under criminal investigation.

The council said: “During the application process for employment there is a section on the application form which allows new applicants to declare any convictions.

“However, there is no legal requirement to disclose a spent conviction under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, unless the post is exempt and requires a DBS.

“If the post is exempt, then a DBS check will be carried out.

“If the DBS check returns with a positive finding for convictions, the human resources manager will submit a positive disclosure request form to request details of the conviction.

“Current employees who have been convicted for an offence, whilst employed by the council, are required to declare this to their manager who will then escalate the issue to HR.”