Police, fire and crime commissioner writes letter to panel after bruising meeting

By Sarah Ward

Northamptonshire Police, fire and crime commissioner Stephen Mold has written a personal letter to the panel which oversees his role, in the wake of his disastrous appointment of a close friend to the role of chief fire officer.

There were angry scenes in the guildhall last week as the panel was not allowed to scrutinise Mold’s controversial decision to make Nicci Marzec chief fire officer earlier this month.

The fallout- following speculation about their friendship and the fact Mold had appointed Marzec without consulting the statutory panel - made national headlines and led Marzec to stand down from the role after 10 days.

On Thursday Mold put forward new deputy chief fire officer Simon Tuhill as the new interim fire officer, although there has not been a public announcement as yet as to whether he got the role.

After the meeting the commissioner, who has been in post for seven years, penned a letter to the panel attempting to explain his position.

Within it he says the timing in which former fire chief Mark Jones stepped down meant he ‘was not able to be as open or inclusive with panel members as I would have liked’.

Justifying Marzec’s appointment he says the force does not need a chief fire officer with operational experience - citing Kent, where that is the situation.

He wrote:

“The service has a wealth of operational, firefighting experience at a senior level. I wanted to ensure the work to push forward the important cultural change programme, and other business change programmes such as the emergency cover review, continued to move ahead without interruption.

“I decided that to complement the operational ability that the service already has, I would ask Nicci Marzec to act up as acting chief officer on a temporary basis to drive forward the business.

“Nicci Marzec was already the monitoring officer. She had previously stood into the role as acting chief officer for a very short period when Darren Dovey retired. She had worked on the cultural and business change programmes and helped to drive them forward.

“This was intended as a short-term measure to allow Simon Tuhill to arrive, settle in and for me to then advertise the chief fire officer role properly.”

There has been concern about the legal advice he received to say it was ok to not consult the panel - which has overall say on senior officer roles. He has refused to share the advice with NN Journal and the panel has also not seen the advice, which was disputed by West Northamptonshire Council (which has a duty to run the panel).

In the letter he says:

“I fully accept that I made an error of judgement in following my legal advice and not being as inclusive of the panel as I normally am.”

He continued:

“I understand that there are many strands of opposition to the appointment that I made.

“On the process, I can only say that I strongly wish I had involved the panel. This would have given me the opportunity to set out my rationale, give the context and allow you to scrutinise and decide based on the facts.

“On the position that you must be a firefighter to lead a fire service – I understand that there is strong opposition to direct entry, but I disagree with that opposition. I do agree with HMICFRS that organisational culture can benefit from a different perspective and I am happy to have that discussion.

“On the speculation around my friendship with Nicci Marzec, I must take it on the chin that I was unaware of the nature of the speculation that was circulating. If I had known what people thought, I would of course have brought her appointment to the panel.

“I very much value the work of the panel and I am disappointed that we are now in a position where you, as panel members, have not heard the facts direct from me, which is why I have written to you today.”

The panel will now meet on September 7 and the issue of Marzec’s appointment will be on the agenda for panel members to discuss. Independent member Anita Shields and Labour’s Cllr Zoe McGhee walked out of the meeting last week after being refused the opportunity to bring a vote of no confidence against him.

Despite refusing to resign, the commissioner may find the decision is taken out of his hands.

There has been an official complaint citing misconduct in public office and breaches of the code of conduct lodged with the chair of police, fire and crime panel and NN Journal also understands different parties have contacted the Independent Office For Police Conduct.

Independent Cllr Ian McCord has also written to secretary of state Michael Gove asking him that if a by-election is triggered, that to save election costs, that by-election would not be followed by an election in May next year - as is scheduled.

Anita Shields has also complained to West Northamptonshire Council’s legal officer that Mold has breached the Seven Principles of Public Life (Nolan Principles) regarding integrity.

The rule says:” Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.”

NN Journal was told earlier this month by the commissioner’s office that Mold did not make any declarations with regard to his personal relationship with Marzec.