Extra phones mooted for safety in Cornwall after death threats

A councillor has said a local authority “should have done better” when she and her children received death threats.

The comments were made by councillor Kate Ewert during a Cornwall Council constitution and governance committee meeting on Tuesday which considered whether councillors should be given a second mobile phone for safeguarding and privacy reasons.

The motion was proposed at a full council meeting last September by Ewert and councillor Pete Mitchell.

The recommendations were unanimously approved by the committee and the matter will be considered at a council administration meeting in February.

It was recommended members were provided with appropriate training and guidance on mobile phone usage and the use of Microsoft Teams Voice-Activated Directory.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service reported this was to support and safeguard them in engaging with residents.

An additional recommendation considered measures by which members may seek a second phone or SIM card when they have accessibility or mental health needs or safeguarding issues, were better publicised.

The meeting heard that mobile phones had been reduced for council staff in an effort to drive down costs and councillors were 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.

In the meeting Ewert said: “On the safeguarding issue … I had a very traumatic experience where I was receiving death threats to me and to my children.”

She said the police and council had been involved but questioned why she wasn’t offered a mobile phone so her home phone number was not accessible to the public.

She added: “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Councillors’ numbers are listed on the council website, but they are able to ask for them not to be published.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, said: “I can only apologise to Cllr Ewert about the circumstances that she found herself in.

“We need to get better at this.”