BUCKINGHAMSHIRE County Council is taking urgent action to check on the credentials of teachers brought in from Canada in September via the recruitment agency, TimePlan.

TimePlan was responsible for recruiting Amy Gehring, the Canadian teacher working in Surrey, who this week was cleared of indecent assault on two underage boys at the comprehensive school she worked at.

Later it was revealed she had been classed as a risk to children after an earlier police investigation, but that TimePlan had continued to employ her.

Last year TimePlan went to Canada for Buckinghamshire County Council and recruited 21 young teachers. Their details were given to Bucks schools, who then took them on, although they were employed by TimePlan.

Christine Spittlehouse, the council's recruitment officer, visited TimePlan in Hemel Hempstead on Tuesday and read through all the teachers' personal files. The council also wants the LEA and individual schools to be given more documentation. It is thinking of having the same procedure for all employment agencies that provide supply and short term contract teachers to schools in the county.

A plan for TimePlan to visit New Zealand in early March for a further recruitment drive on behalf of Bucks and the London Borough of Harrow, has been put on hold until the county is satisfied.

Deputy council leader Bill Chapple said yesterday that parents entrusted their children to the care of teachers and needed to be sure they were trustworthy.

The county council said in a statement: "We are taking these steps to satisfy ourselves that all employment checks have been carried out to our satisfaction, as well as to TimePlan's."

TimePlan press officer, Barry Hugill, said that any information the council wanted, it could have, and he added: "We have nothing to hide."

He agreed the decision to keep on employing Miss Gehring had been a mistake. But he said her fault could not have been picked up when she was interviewed in Canada. She had a clean police record, he said.