Across the country the controversial newly elected Police and Crime Commissioners are supposed to be getting down to business. The reality in several areas is that many are hitting the headlines for the wrong reasons, and nowhere is this truer than in the case of Adam Simmonds, the Northamptonshire PCC, who has stacked his new “sprawling” 17-person commission with his campaign staff.
The whole story is an ‘omnishambles’ – a toxic mixture of high farce, cronyism and arrogance potentially leading to an unacceptable politicisation of our police force.
First though, a little background. Mr Simmonds was the Conservative political assistant at Tory-run Northamptonshire County Council, who have been busy slashing funds for PCSOs and plunging the county into darkness by switching off half the streetlights, before he moved into a politically restricted role for the last few years. His political leanings leapt to the fore again when he was selected as the Conservative candidate for PCC in Northants in the summer. How he managed to go through a selection process whilst being politically neutral is an interesting question that has never been satisfactorily answered. Neither was the case of his pay-off – 3 months in lieu of notice even though he was leaving his politically restricted post because he was a political candidate so could not work the notice period!
In another ridiculous twist during the election, the Labour candidate had to withdraw due to a 20 year old offence, but after the nomination papers were in. This meant that he remained on the ballot paper despite the fact that he could not take up the post. Labour withdrew their support and the campaign limped on.
During the campaign Mr Simmonds refused to outline his plans for how he would run the police, saying that people would find out once he was elected. He did join the criticism of a new job advertised at the police authority at £70k as “management madness”. Upon taking office his first action was to email existing staff to say that there was no money left and no jobs could be guaranteed.
So imagine the public uproar a few days later when he appointed 4 assistant commissioners at £65,000 each – one of whom was his election agent and another his press officer! Worse was to come as news leaked out of his seventeen person commission, an increase on the seven people working at the existing Police Authority. One of these jobs was promptly given to the existing Conservative Political Assistant at the County Council!
When we expressed fears of the politicisation of the police with the creation of these posts nobody foresaw just how shambolic and disgraceful the situation would become. The public in Northamptonshire are rightly appalled. Mr Simmonds has a lot of hard work to do to win people round. Given the start, it seems unlikely he will be successful.
* Cllr Brendan Glynane is the Leader of the Opposition at Northamptonshire County Council and the Liberal Democrat rep on the Northants Police and Crime Panel.
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27 Comments
Its to be expected – I’m sure the Lib Dem/Labour/ other candidate elected would have done similar and the opposition would have cried foul
That is a scandal and an outrage and I hope we absolutely milk it.
Thanks, Brendan for the update.
Yet another reason why we should be campaigning to make sure we never elect our Police Commissioners ever again. Great expose.
Democracy is a process by which the electorate learns how to choose. This is a valuable learning experience. Let us hope that it results in correction this time and an improved choice next time.
Brendan is wrong in part of what he says, specifically when he says: “So imagine the public uproar a few days later when he appointed 4 assistant commissioners at £65,000 each.”
Commissioner Simmonds didn’t wait “a few days”. He appointed his 4 chums on his very first day in office (Thursday 22 Nonember).
You can see the details in his grandiosely titled “Executive Order No. 2″ here: http://www.northantspcc.org.uk/default.aspx?id=decisions
Regarding political restrictions you may find this useful
http://www.lge.gov.uk/lge/core/page.do?pageId=119739
“The cumulative effect of these restrictions is to limit the holders of ‘PoRPs’ to bare membership of political parties, with no active participation within the party permitted…. they may not speak in public so as to create the impression that they are speaking as an authorised representative of a political party”.By becoming a candidate I would consider that he resigned his job and is not entitled to a pay off.
You lost me at “slashing funds for PCSOs”. Good for him. We really don’t need our pavements clogged up by the waddling ranks of the beneficiaries of what was never anything but a scheme to create non-jobs for the useless.
Its little different in West Mercia. PCC Bill Longmore has appointed of his election agent Barrie Sheldon at £50K a year, despite the West Mercia Police and Crime Panel refusing to back the appointment.
A role that starts with cronyism is never going to be able to fulfil the role of being an independent overseer of the police. Commissioners are building empires when they should be using their efforts to ensure that policies and resources are effectively directed to reducing crime.
Does anyone know what the budgets of the Commissioners are?
In the interests of political balance, it’s worth pointing out that the Labour Police Commissioners are just as bad on the “cronyism” front as this Tory in Northamptonshire.
For example, the Labour Police Commissioner in the West Midlands, Bob Jones, has appointed a Labour councillor, Cllr Yvonne Mosquito, as his ‘Deputy Commissioner’. She is going to be paid a total of £92,000 per annum, including her continuing pay as a Birmingham Labour councillor.
The Deputy PCC post is meant to be 32 hours per week, paying £65,000 pa. However Cllr Mosquito is carrying on as a Labour councillor.
To quote the Birmingham Mail (http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/local-news/deputy-police-and-crime-commissioner-yvonne-342469 ):
“Birmingham councillor Yvonne Mosquito is refusing to stand down from her £10,574 a year role as chairman of the Ladywood District Committee despite being urged to do so by the region’s policing watchdog.
She will also stay on as Labour councillor for Nechells, for which she receives the £16,267 basic councillor’s allowance.
The West Midlands Police and Crime Panel, which monitors the police commissioner, has endorsed Coun Mosquito as deputy but asked her to devote herself full time to the role.”
So that’s £65.000 for being part-time Police Commissioner; the Birmingham City Council’s basic allowance of £16,267; and SRA as Ladywood District Chair of £10,574.
Making a grand total of £91,841 pa.
“Democracy is a process by which the electorate learns how to choose. This is a valuable learning experience. Let us hope that it results in correction this time and an improved choice next time.”
No, democracy in this case was a misbegotten process by which the electorate tried to make clear its opposition to this election, but its views were ignored and the results declared legitimate. Let us hope that we campaign to abandon PCCs altogether next time.
What we are going to see in Northamptonshire is a power tussle between Adam Simmonds and the Chief Constable, although in public they will deny it. The old Police Authority (which Brendan and I have both been members of) employed a handful of staff, none of whom were on high salaries and many were only part time. If the commissioner is employing senior managers on £65,000 a year, what will be the need for those managers currently employed by the force as part of the Chief Constable’s management team? Through his control of the purse strings, Simmonds will take control of huge aspects of the internal management of the force, leaving the Chief Constable only with his operational independence to fall back on to determine what police officers are doing from day to day.
Simmonds demonstrates a move to an American style of local government, where people move freely between the local civil service and local politics, taking their cronies with them. Future Tory and Labour governments will like this model, and use it bring in elected executive mayors by the back door. First the fire service will be an easy picking to tack onto the commissioners empire, then aspects of social services. Increasingly, it will be former public servants who are elected to these offices, retired police officers or like Simmonds former local government officers. The role of the councillor, rooted in their communities and with a life outside local government and administration will be further weakened, and local government will be left to so called ‘experts’.
This will be long remembered by our party as the worst compromise we made in the coalition agreement.
It’s always nice to have someone repeat one’s comments word for word!
@Richard Church:
“This will be long remembered by our party as the worst compromise we made in the coalition agreement.”
I would love that to be the case. I still think the NHS ‘deforms’ are massively worse, not least because they are a good two scales of magnitude larger. But this is bad enough, particularly because it is not obvious that the government either has any powers to prevent this kind of misbehaviour or any wish to do so. Where are the speeches from Ministers condemning all this?
Chris Gee raises an interesting point about political restrictions.
However the Northamptonshire case has flagged up another issue where I am currently seeking legal advice.
This is the requirement for appointments in local government (which appears to encompass Police Commissioners) to be “on merit”.
Section 7(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 states
“Every appointment of a person to a paid office or employment under—
(a) a local authority or parish or community council in England and Wales, or
(b) a local authority in Scotland,
shall be made on merit.”
However Deputy Police Commissioners (limited to one per police area) are specifically excluded from that merit requirement by Schedule 1 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.
Section 8(4) of Schedule 1 states:
”Section 7 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (appointment of staff on merit) does not apply to the deputy police and crime commissioner.”
So a Police Commissioner may appoint a single Deputy Police Commissioner NOT on merit. But every other appointment (including “Assistant” Commissioners) has to be on merit.
@Tony Dawson. I said this would be the worse compromise of the coalition agreement. NHS reform wasn’t in the coalition agreement.
Simon, I understand the appointments Simmonds has already made are interim, and thererfore the Nolan rules or rules covering local government don’t apply. However they may apply for the permanent post and will have the advantage of experience.
Sorry, Richard, you are right. The NHS stuff was not in the Coalition agreement. It was in the ‘Coalition programme for Government:
“in the crucial area of public service reform,
we have found that Liberal Democrat and
Conservative ideas are stronger combined. For
example, in the NHS, take Conservative thinking
on markets, choice and competition and add
to it the Liberal Democrat belief in advancing
democracy at a much more local level, and you
have a united vision for the NHS that is truly
radical: GPs with authority over commissioning;
patients with much more control; elections for
your local NHS health board. Together, our ideas
will bring an emphatic end to the bureaucracy,
top-down control and centralisation that has so
diminished our NHS.”
@Richard Church
“Simon, I understand the appointments Simmonds has already made are interim, and thererfore the Nolan rules or rules covering local government don’t apply. However they may apply for the permanent post and will have the advantage of experience.”
Yes they were appointed as “Interim Assistant Commissioners”. However as far as I can see the requirement under s. 7(1) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 to appoint on merit applies to <b.ALL appointments.
That’s the aspect on which I am seeking legal advice.
Within the regulations covering activities of all serving Police and Prison Officers, there is a mandatory requirement that no Political affiliation or activity can be undertaken whatsoever by any member of any force or Prison establishment, from Chief Constable / Prison Governor downwards. Why then has the legislation for the election of Police Commissioners flown in the face of this absolute requirement? Perhaps a Judicial Review might be able to throw some light on this ?
Simon (not Simon Shaw): that’s a depressing remark. I’d say worse: it’s betrayal. Why? If you’re in any way engaged in politics, even just making comments on a website, you’ve joined the ranks of people who believe some outcomes and some candidates are better than others and your effort can make a difference. Some of us have spent a huge amount of our lives, time and caring in such a cause. As soon as you join the easy chorus of “they’re all the same”, you betray democracy and politics and any sort of effort – for if they really all are as bad as one another, nothing can improve and there’s no point voting, commenting or anything else.
A little study will demonstrate they’re not all as bad as one another. Some MPs behaved much better on their expenses than others, and yes, the good and the bad were spread across parties, but not evenly.No doubt, for example, there are Conservatives elected as police commisioners who are behaving more responsibly than this confidence trickster. As for his opponents, it’s a fundamental point of justice that you blame people for what they’ve actually done and not for what you think they might have done given the chance.
Simon Shaw
So a Police Commissioner may appoint a single Deputy Police Commissioner NOT on merit. But every other appointment (including “Assistant” Commissioners) has to be on merit
Presumably the “merit” is “I know him, he’s a mate of mine, so I know he would do well”. Who can argue with that? This is what all these “one-man one-vote” (i.e. one man has all the power) posts are about, whether executive mayors or police commissioners – they are supposed to lead to government which is better because it is more personalised, all accountable to one person, no nasty bureaucracy and having to work through committees. What better illustration of this than getting rid of all the bureaucracy surrounding appointments in old-style local government and moving simply to “I’ll appoint my mates”?
Of the 5 Essex Police Authority charimen, 1993 – 2012:
The fist, Labour lasted 12 months then had to resign due to overzealous claims for mileage and station attendance
(363 days in one year)
The second, LD, was me who served out the remainder of the term to 1997
The third, Tory, was deselected (officially due to ill health) because the Tories thought he was soft on the other parties.
The fourth, Tory, was forced to resign by the combined pressure of the Police staff association, and all non-Tory members, including magistrates and Home Office nominees_ because of his “One Man Band” approach – and the
management and other problems that had resulted in the Chief Executive going on extended Garden Leave .
The final (Independent) chairman was a “holding appointment” pending election of the PCC.
The new PCC chairman (Tory) retired naval officer now announces he should./could have stood as an indepentent
and needs a staff to help him sort our the inherited shambles of the Police Authority. Oh ! and the Chief Constable resigned within days of the PCC election.
No problems then.
Now my view that a LD candidate (me?) was a ticket to a disaster may be vindicated.
Richard Boyd, OBE, DL.
Now you
@Matthew Huntbach – your irony was possibly a little too subtle.
As I read it “I’ll appoint my mate(s)” is strictly legal for a PCC but only in respect of a single Deputy Commissioner.
A PCC must appoint a Chief Executive and a Chief Finance Officer – see Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 Sch 1 s.6(1).
In addition a PCC may appoint other staff (some of whom may be called “Assistant Commissioners”).
But the Chief Executive, the Chief Finance Officer, “Assistant Commissioners” and all other staff must be appointed “on merit”. In terms of the Nolan principles that must surely mean that the posts are advertised and interviewed for in accordance with normal Employment Law good practice.
Simon (not Shaw) – “Its to be expected – I’m sure the Lib Dem/Labour/ other candidate elected would have done similar and the opposition would have cried foul”
Can’t speak for Labour/others, but NO the Lib Dem candidate would not have done similar.
Chris standbra
And how can you be so sure?
I would not have expected the LD to support a lot of things that they have but did. I would also not expect them to accept cash from dubious sources but they have. Who would expect them to be represented by an expenses cheat in Govenment but the are
Who knows about the pcc elections seeing the party did so badly
This holier than thou attitude is starting to grate now we see you performance when in power. It doesn’t help your credibility you know
@bazzasc – The reason that we can be so sure is that the evidence is there in local government.
In the north, where I live, Labour councils often behave in just as dubious a way as this Police Commissioner. Lib Dems have a far better record.
My explanation is that it is primarily down to “safe seats”. Safe seats breed arrogance and corruption and the simple fact is that Lib Dems never assume that they have a safe seat.
So Chris Stanbra is right on this.
Chris standbra
And how can you be so sure?
I would not have expected the LD to support a lot of things that they have but did. I would also not expect them to accept cash from dubious sources but they have. Who would expect them to be represented by an expenses cheat in Govenment but the are
Who knows about the pcc elections seeing the party did so badly
This holier than thou attitude is starting to grate now we see you performance when in power. It doesn’t help your credibility you know
Simon Shaw
But the Chief Executive, the Chief Finance Officer, “Assistant Commissioners” and all other staff must be appointed “on merit”. In terms of the Nolan principles that must surely mean that the posts are advertised and interviewed for in accordance with normal Employment Law good practice.
Yes, but who decides what is “merit”? As I said, these posts are one-man-one-vote – ALL decision-making is on the hands of one person, therefore if that person decides the mark of merit is that someone is a mate of his, he can do so, at least it’s awkward to stop him doing so.