A COUNCILLOR has said Cornwall Council “should have done better” when she and her children received traumatic death threats.

Cllr Kate Ewert’s comments came during a discussion on Tuesday (January 6) about whether councillors should be given a second mobile phone for safeguarding and privacy reasons.

The council’s constitution and governance committee considered a motion that was proposed at a full council meeting last September by Cllr Ewert – who is the Labour group leader at Cornwall Council – and Liberal Democrat councillor Pete Mitchell that mobile phones or a second SIM card are provided for members.

The meeting heard mobile phones have been systematically reduced for council staff in an effort to drive down costs. Councillors are expected to purchase a phone themselves from their basic allowance.

If a Smartphone and SIM was provided for all 87 councillors it would cost approximately £15,225, with usage costs in the region of £9,396 per year.

It was recommended to the committee that all councillors should use the Microsoft Teams Voice-Activated Directory when engaging with the public. Members are then able to set up an answerphone message to pick up their calls when they are not available.

However, concerns about the safety and wellbeing of councillors was brought up at the meeting.

Cllr Ewert, who represents St Germans and the Rame Peninsula, said: “On the safeguarding issue, members who were members of the last council will remember that I had a very traumatic experience where I was receiving death threats to me and to my children.

“The police were involved quite heavily and the council was involved. Why did no one from Democratic Services reach out to me then to say ‘there’s clearly a safeguarding issue here Cllr Ewert, we can provide you with a mobile phone so that your home phone isn’t accessible to members of the public and you stop getting death threats over the phone at 2 o’clock in the morning’?

“This is really quite a serious issue. I understand the cost implication, but I do think we have a duty to protect members who are in the public eye and whose numbers can be found.”

Councillors’ numbers are listed on the council website, but they are able to ask for them not to be published.

Anita Searby, the council’s democratic lead and statutory scrutiny officer, replied: “I can only apologise to Cllr Ewert about the circumstances that she found herself in. We need to get better at this.

“I know we have done a lot of work with members on bullying, harassment and intimidation, but I can only apologise that we should have done better.”

Cllr Ewert responded: “I agree with Anita – [the council] should have done better.”

She added that she found it “really concerning” that lone-working officers wouldn’t have mobile phones either.

“The main reason we brought this motion was a safeguarding issue for members,” said Cllr Ewert. “We represent large rural divisions. For some of us it is not an option to be able to afford a second phone line or take out a second contract.

“We’re often solo working and working remotely where we don’t even get internet access anyway to be able to contact people on Teams if there is a safety concern. I think this about protecting the mental health and wellbeing of councillors.”

Drue Bloem, the council’s business services manager, said staff who are “lone working” in frontline services have received mobile phones. “Increasingly, we’ve changed the strategy around that to match what we’re proposing here.

“We’re looking by this time next year to have halved mobile phone provision across officers in the council by rolling out this initiative.

“On the safeguarding issue, each [incident] has to be assessed in its own right and we have ways that we can provide whatever’s needed.”

Committee chairman Cllr Dick Cole (Mebyon Kernow, St Dennis & St Enoder) said there needed to be more clarity for councillors concerning the mechanisms that are in place to help them when it comes to issues when engaging with the public.

Green Party group leader Cllr Drew Creek, who was elected last May, said he had no idea his mobile phone number was listed on the Cornwall Council website until a member of the public rang him. He asked for it to be removed and then bought an eSIM card to use in another phone at his own cost.

He said he wasn’t aware of the suggested Teams option either. “I think listening to Cllr Ewert’s experience, and it sounds pretty harrowing, the safeguarding issue alone – mindful of the kind of money we’re talking to provide it – justifies the need. Clearly, it can be optional – councillors can choose to or not.

“We stand at risk of causing the anxiety and mental health issues that we’re talking about by not giving the option of providing a mobile phone.”

Cllr Rob Parsonage (Cornish Independent Non-aligned Group, Torpoint) said: “What Kate had to go through was totally unacceptable. We know that part of the allowance is to have a phone, so from a practical point of view we should be purchasing a second phone to safeguard ourselves.”

The committee voted on a recommendation that members are provided with appropriate training/guidance on mobile phone usage including the use of the Microsoft Teams Voice-Activated Directory to support and safeguard them in engaging with residents in their role as elected councillors.

They also considered an additional recommendation that measures by which members may seek a second phone or SIM card where they have accessibility/mental health needs or safeguarding issues are better publicised.

The recommendations were unanimously approved by committee members. Their decision will go to cabinet member for resources Cllr Adam Paynter for consideration at the council administration’s next Individual Decision Day meeting in February.