Friday brief: Adderley legacy will lead to better education checks for senior police officers, says commissioner
Friday brief: Adderley legacy will lead to better education checks for senior police officers, says commissioner
Plus news from our council chambers and the lack of a women's health hub in our county
The police, fire and crime commissioner has met with the College of Policing and says now all senior officer’s qualifications will be checked before they are appointed.
The county’s previous chief constable Nick Adderley was sacked in the summer for lying on his CV about his achievements and qualifications.
He claimed he had studied at a top naval college as well as giving the impression he had served in the Falklands War.
He could face criminal charges although a decision is yet to be made.
Following Adderley’s fakery, the Northants force has now reviewed its own processes and rechecked all of its senior officers and speaking at the police, fire and crime panel yesterday commissioner Danielle Stone said the College of Policing had now said education checks on senior officers will tighten.
She said:
“From now on all qualifications are going to be checked during the vetting procedure. It is shocking that they weren’t, but from now on across the country they will be. So out of something really terrible, because of the work the chief has done, we are setting the standards for what is going on in the rest of the country and I’m really pleased about that.”
Senior officers should go through developed vetting, but there were flaws in the process which allowed him to rise through promotions, despite not having the qualifications or experience he claimed to have.
The commissioner said that herself and her deputy Marianne Kimani will themselves go through the highest levels of vetting - despite there not being a statutory requirement to do so.
She said:
“Given what has gone on, I think it is appropriate.”
Also at the meeting she said that she will introduce a new police and fire plan which will focus on public safety. It will be called Safe and Sound and will set out what the public can expect as a level of service.
News in brief
West Northamptonshire Council’s (WNC) landlord services have come under fire as shortfalls in tenant satisfaction levels and housing services were scrutinised this week.
The local authority owns more than 11,400 residential properties and acts as a landlord to those in social housing. WNC reported that it is not hitting its own housing targets in nearly 60 per cent of its assessed criteria.
In the latest period, 65 per cent of people living in council housing in West Northants said they were satisfied with how the local authority acted as their landlord. Northamptonshire Partnership Homes is an arms length organisation which manages the social housing in the West of the county.
The meeting also heard that half of tenants felt the council did not listen to their views on their homes. More than two-thirds of people in social housing (68 per cent) who had made complaints about the service also said they weren’t happy with the way it was dealt with by WNC.
Deputy leader of the opposition, Cllr Bob Purser said:
“On the face of it, it all makes for worrying reading.
“Tenants really should expect repairs done speedily and their complaints handled well and neither of those are in place at the moment for enough people.
“We’ve got a huge task to improve here. It’s going to involve all of us absolutely working together to get on top of this and I hope that all those measures are in place so actually our tenants get the service they properly deserve.”
The report noted that out of the 27 ‘red measures’ that were not hitting targets, only seven were showing improvements compared to the previous period.
Other areas that have underperformed this year include satisfaction that the landlord keeps communal areas clean and well-maintained, the percentage of people who agree that tenants are ‘treated fairly and with respect’ and resident satisfaction with the time taken to complete repairs and happiness with the repairs service in general.
Leader of WNC, Adam Brown, said the council took the findings “very seriously”.
The council has commissioned an independent assessment of landlord services. The authority will present the findings and recommendations report alongside an associated action plan to the cabinet when complete.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, Local democracy reporter
There’s no sign of a women’s health hub yet in Northamptonshire, despite money being given by central government and hubs opening in neighbouring counties.
NHS England had asked each Integrated Care Board to have a hub up and running by July offering two services and a fully serviced hub in place by December.
The hubs have been introduced as part of a ten year strategy to improve women’s health services.
We asked the ICB where it is with the hub and a spokesperson said: “We already have a number of core services established which support women’s health and wellbeing that are delivered from a number of locations across the county. Planning is currently underway on the next phase of the development work.”
It said hubs are a ‘model of care’ and are not necessarily contained in one space.
The ICB’s latest board papers did not mention any plans for the hubs.
The West unitary council is on its way to a £3.8 million overspend, according to an end-of-year forecast, after already exhausting its contingency budget.
The authority’s adult social care spend is currently forecast to go over budget by £9.6m alone and the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT) is also predicting an overspend of almost £5m. Children’s placements continue to make up the majority of the cost pressures.
Just five months into the financial year, WNC has used up all of its £10m contingency budget.
Opposition Cllr Keith Holland-Delamere said the use of the contingency this early in the year was “concerning”.
Cabinet member for finance, Cllr Malcolm Longley said:
“The big numbers on there are the children’s trust and the adults directorate. They’ve now stabilised for the last two or three months so that’s actually a very good sign.
“If it stays the same like this we will be fine. As long as something coming down the track isn’t too devastating I think we’re in reasonable shape at this stage.
“Year on year we’ve had overspends from adults and we’ve had overspends from children’s. In each case thus far we’ve managed to balance the books.”
WNC’s budget of £414.5m was approved in February 2024 and includes £24m of savings proposals.
Report by Nadia Lincoln
A peace vigil has been organised in response to the riots this summer and the way Northampton handled a threat to its community.
In August an immigration solicitors in the town had been among a list circulated as potential target for trouble, but the community came out to
Now cllr James Hill, has organised the peace and unity vigil for next Friday, at All Saints Church Courtyard starting at 7pm.
He said: “All are very welcome to attend. This will be a multi-faith, cross party event with various speakers and performances.”
NN Events
🌂 The Umbrella Fair Organisations is holding a festival tomorrow and Sunday at the pavilion on Northampton Racecourse. Starts at noon both days and entry is free. There will be music, debates, community arts, healing tents and events for kids.
🎉 Arts festival Made with Many is holding the first ever Well Creative festival on Saturday from 10am to 5pm. There will be street performers, family activities and artists at venues across the town centre, including the Library, Market Square and Swansgate Centre.
So Adam Brown takes the findings of the report into the council housing 'very seriously'.
Is actually going to do anything or let it lie till after the election next year when hopefully it will be someone elses' problem?
The checks were in place for such things more than two decades ago. The case here is that someone, or multiple someone's, couldn't be bothered to do their job properly. This isn't the first time someone has lied their way into NORPOL as a result of HR/the PCC not doing their due diligence, but most are quietly dismissed to avoid embarrassing the force. Why aren't those responsible for these repeat failings being held accountable? Lessons won't ever truly be learned until those responsible are motivated to do their job properly by the risk of being held properly accountable if they don't.