JUST under half of county councillors in Somerset have not undergone background checks to ensure they can work with children or vulnerable people.

Anyone who wishes to work with children or vulnerable adults has to be checked by the government’s Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), with details of cautions or criminal convictions being made available to their employer.

The council introduced a policy last November that enhanced DBS checks should be mandatory for all cabinet members, all committee members and for members of any panel relating to children, education or adult services.

Out of the 55 councillors representing Somerset, only 34 had undergone the necessary checks by June 28.

This leaves 21 councillors, including three who serve on the council’s various scrutiny committees, who are still to be checked.

The council said that it was working hard to rectify the situation by the end of July and that there was no risk to the public.

The figure was revealed in a report to the council’s constitution and standards committee, which met in Taunton on Friday, July 6.

Jamie Jackson, the council’s deputy strategic manager for democratic services, said in his report that the situation was partly due to personnel changes agreed by the full council in May.

He said: “Following several amendments to the scrutiny committee appointments and memberships at the May full council meeting, there are now four councillors who require an enhanced check as a matter of urgency in order to sit on the relevant committee.”

The council has subsequently clarified that this number has been reduced to three – one for each of the scrutiny committees.

The remaining 18 councillors only require a basic check, since they do not sit on committees or panels relating to children or adult services.

Mr Jackson added: “All 18 members have been approached directly, requesting the completion of the online application and to provide supporting documentation to the nominated verifiers, with the intention that all remaining councillors have received confirmation of an approved application by July 31.”

Carrying out DBS checks on all councillors after election was not official council policy at the time of the last local elections in May 2017.

At a meeting of the full council in November 2017, councillors agreed that enhanced DBS checks should be mandatory for all cabinet members, all committee members and for members of any panel relating to children, education or adult services.

It also voted to that these should be renewed every four years, following each subsequent election.

The council has said that this backlog of DBS checks posed no safeguarding risk to the public.

A spokesman said: “There is no legal requirement for a councillor to complete a DBS check for this. These are formal, public meetings, so there would be absolutely no safeguarding risk.

“Following the election in May 2021, all county councillors will be asked to complete a DBS check as part of their induction process.”