Northamptonshire's police, fire and crime commissioner says he'd appoint 'close friend' again as he survives no confidence vote

Northamptonshire’s police, fire and crime commissioner Stephen Mold has been asked to ‘go back to school’ for training on how the rules of his office works.

After five hours, the 11-person Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel stopped short of a passing a vote of no confidence after the row over his appointment of a ‘close personal friend’ as the county’s interim fire chief.

The end of the marathon meeting, heard in Northampton, ‘noted’ the error of judgement made by the Conservative politician.

Mr Mold said: “In hindsight I wish I’d followed a different course and involved the panel. I would make the same appointment again but I would follow a different process. It was less than transparent. It wasn’t my intention. My strong wish was that I had involved the panel.

"I still believe it was the right thing to do. I accept that it could have been handled better.”

He repeated his assertion that, because the appointment of Nicci Marzec had been temporary and an interim role, he thought the process was different.

Panel members stated that they were ‘disappointed’ that ‘reputational damage’ had been done to Mr Mold’s office.

A statement agreed by the panel, carried by nine votes of a possible 11, said: “The panel notes the error of judgement made by the police, fire and crime commissioner in respect of a recent appointment. It is disappointed that reputational damage has been done to his office.”

The panel agreed on a set of recommendations, with the wording still to be finalised:

– Improve communications between the commissioner and the panel

– Training to be given to the commissioner in relation to the Code of Conduct

– The wording of the Code of Conduct to be amended to give a clearer, specific definition of ‘close personal relationships’

– The wording of the recruitment process to be ‘tightened up’ regarding the process for temporary appointments

– The commissioner to produce an action plan that will be presented back to the panel

– The panel to write to the Home Office regarding the need for clarity about interim appointments to the statutory appointments that are subject to a confirmation hearing

– And the panel expects that all interim appointments to the statutory appointments will be subject to a confirmation hearing in the future.

The panel also agreed to ‘urge’ the commissioner to acknowledge the concerns raised at the meeting in relation to appointments.

More than 50 questions had been fired at Mr Mold by Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel members and the public.

The meeting was called after Mr Mold appointed ‘close personal friend’ Ms Marzec, as interim chief fire officer without taking his decision to the panel for a confirmation hearing.

Thursday’s meeting was the first public opportunity to quiz Mr Mold since the appointment of Ms Marzec, who later resigned from the role.

Reading prepared answers, Mr Mold stuck to his script repeating many responses to questions multiple times.

Six members of the public asked questions – accompanied by raucous barracking including shouts of ‘let’s talk about integrity’ and ‘shame on you’ directed at Mr Mold.

Mr Mold then faced 30 pre-submitted questions from panel members with numerous supplemental additions.

Panel members probed the circumstances surrounding former chief fire officer Mark Jones’ resignation on July 7, 2023.

Mr Mold said that due to confidentialityy he could not answer what had gone on prior to Mr Jones’ resignation but would be ‘putting it in his memoirs’.

Questions were raised about an emailed enquiry, ordered by Mr Mold ten days before Mr Jones’ resignation, regarding the appointment of Ms Marzec – that she sent to the legal team.

At one point Cllr Russell Roberts suggested that Mr Mold needed to ‘go back to school’ for training.

Listening intently in the Great Hall of the Guildhall were firefighters from the Fire Brigades Union who had already passed a motion of no confidence in Mr Mold.

Following the vote on the recommendations, Cllr Andre Gonzalez De Savage, said: “The role of commissioner is an important one, it’s a leadership role but also it needs to take the (fire) service with it in a proper way with representation and you can’t represent a whole lot of people who don’t back that individual – that’s going to be a tough one.

"The biggest asset the commissioner has is the staff – both fire and police.

“The office of the police fire and crime commissioner has been damaged. Has it been damaged beyond repair? I hope not.

"If you have policies in place they apply to the commissioner and all other members. He’s an individual who understands that, so I’m not sure why he didn’t follow those rules.

“I very much hope that for Northants Fire and Rescue and the police that this never happens again. Lessons need to be learnt all round in Northamptonshire and across the UK that the role of police and crime commissioner needs to be transparent, fully accountable and needs to be there to be giving out the right messages and signals – and doing the right thing all the time.”

Cllr Zoe McGhee (Lab), proposer the failed vote of no confidence, abstained in the subsequent vote and described Mr Mold’s answers as ‘hollow words’.

She said: “The conclusions of the panel in my opinion lacked teeth – that’s why I abstained from the vote – but all in all there has to be some recognition that have been some outcomes from this meeting. Whilst they lack teeth I’m shocked at the appetite of the panel to get some hard questions in there.

“It’s clear that the answers we got in the meeting from the commissioner were not up to standard, were vague, they lacked fact, he was skirting round the truth and his presence to me did not scream ‘I am head of institutions that represent ethics, I am head of institutions that represent safety, I am head of institutions that represent relations with the public’. They scream to me that ‘I am a politician who’s covering their own back’."