Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring councillors in principle tier authorities to obtain a DBS check.

Criminal record checks provided by the Disclosure and Barring Service (‘DBS checks’) for local government members are currently optional; it is for individual local authorities to adopt eligible checks as they determine necessary.

I am considering options on criminal record checks for local government members.