Cross party support for campaign to keep fire control in Cornwall

There was overwhelming cross party support among Cornwall councillors at yesterday's meeting for a motion opposing plans from the Home Secretary to hand control of the fire and rescue service to the Devon and Cornwall Police Commissioner.

The principle reason for this opposition was the loss of local control. Cornwall's fire service is unique. It is built around our towns and villages and in response to the needs of each town. There was a significant fear that moving control to Exeter would lose this tailored approach and also result in cuts to our brigade in order to support the less efficient Devon service.

Cornwall's fire and rescue service has not always been so good - but huge strides have been made in recent years by the staff, the excellent leadership and by the council itself. Why would we want to go backwards?

I'm delighted that there was also massive opposition from the Conservative group to the idea that the inefficient Tory Police and Crime Commissioner should take control of Cornwall's fire service.

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Tory Police Commissioner's £650 per month rent paid for by taxpayers (even though he could stay at the office for free)

It seems that the Conservative Police Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall has decided to help himself to £650 per month of taxpayer money as a housing allowance. Tony Hogg says he needs the cash to be able to stay near Police HQ in Exeter (he comes from Helston). The full story is in the Mail on Sunday.

The trouble is that not only is this yet another drain on police resources, but it is totally unnecessary. The police HQ has ensuite visitor accommodation designed for overnight stays and which was used by members of the old police authority. However Mr Hogg has said that he does not think it is 'appropriate' for him. Instead, he wanted money to be able to stay with chums at a local naval base.

It seems that Tony Hogg's first instinct is to put his hand in the taxpayer's pocket and expect them to pay for his whims. He seems to forget he is already getting £85,000 a year of our money.

Modern technology means that he doesn't need to be sitting next to the Chief Constable or to his own personal staff to be able to do the job properly. He had the option to base his office anywhere in Devon or Cornwall but he chose Exeter. If he doesn't like the idea of commuting then he could use the free accommodation on offer. Or he could well afford to buy or rent his own flat in the city rather than charging accommodation to the taxpayer.

Taxpayers were promised that the new police commissioners would save money compared to the old police authorities. But Tony Hogg has already taken on more staff than under the old system and has spent a further quarter of a million on consultants and agency staff. This latest revelation adds insult to injury. In the past week, Mr Hogg wrote to the government asking for more money for frontline police officers in our area. How can he be taken seriously when he is diverting money which could be used for bobbies on the beat and using it to pad out his £85,000 salary with unnecessary expenses.

I have written to Mr Hogg today asking him to justify the expenses. If, as the newspaper article claims, he has chosen to ignore free accommodation then I believe that he should be paying for any alternative out of his own pocket.

UPDATE - Tony Hogg has responded via his own website here.

UPDATE 2 - The chair of the Police Federation in Devon and Cornwall has had called Mr Hogg's assertions 'nonsense'.

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Why handing control of the Fire and Rescue Service to the Police Commissioner would be bad for Cornwall

It seems that free-spending Conservative Police Commissioner Tony Hogg is keen to expand his empire. He has welcomed a proposal by the Home Secretary to explore the idea of police commissioners taking over the running of fire and ambulance services. Chancellor George Osborne also gave a hint of such a move in his spending review announcement yesterday.

I don’t know that much about the ambulance services, but Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is a hugely specialised team which has developed brilliantly under Cornwall Council. It has new leadership and was taken off a list of those services seen to be failing after a lot of hard work by the authority and staff. The idea of centralising it to an Exeter HQ (and merging with Devon) would mean the loss of local accountability and, I fear, a less responsive service.

Whilst most of local government has made significant savings in administration in recent years, Mr Hogg has overseen further bloating of his own administration team. He has, rightly, made the point that local police services will be affected by the latest round of cuts. But his arguments are holed below the waterline given his own profligacy. I can't help but wonder whether taking over fire or ambulance services would be simply an excuse for another round of consultants and more 'chums on seats'.

At the moment, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service is run by the council and accountable to the public through local elected members. The debate about local fire stations and service levels is one which the public can see and take part in. My fear is that, if the Police Commissioner’s empire is allowed to expand, we will lose that accountability and decisions will be taken in a private office in Exeter.

Led by my colleague Sue James, a cross party group of Cornwall councillors has proposed a motion for the next council meeting opposing the centralisation of fire services.

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Police Commissioner's quarter million pound consultants and agency staff bill

Devon and Cornwall's new Police and Crime Commissioner has run up a bill for consultants and agency staff of almost a quarter of a million pounds since he took office in November.

The spending includes payments to a 'senior advisor' who is the wife of a former navy colleague.

Police Commissioners across the country have been attacked over their spending on increasing full-time staff numbers for their private offices, but this is the first time I have seen any details of the amounts spent on consultants.

As soon as he was appointed, Devon and Cornwall's commissioner recruited a spin doctor on between £40,777 and £50,418. In addition, he took on all of the staff previously employed to run the Police Authority.

But whilst other commissioners have appointed Deputies on £60k salaries, our local commissioner has instead spent even more on consultants. These have included 'advisors on organisational change' and 'strategic human resources services' despite the very limited amount of change in staff compared to the old Police Authority.

In total, the amount spent in the six months since November is £235,925.62.

Of course, Cornwall Council is not a paragon of virtue when it comes to spending on consultants and agency staff. But the new administration has already set in motion a programme to cut these amounts and, where possible, transfer agency staff who are working for the authority on roles that will always be needed onto cheaper full-time contracts. Our spending in this area is going down.

Like the council, I can understand that the Police Commissioner might well need agency staff or expert outside advice from consultants from time to time. But these amounts - in just six months - are quite incredible.

You can find the details of all the Police Commissioner's agency and consultant payments here.

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Meeting with Commissioner Hogg

Today saw the first meeting for the new Police and Crime Panel with Commissioner Tony Hogg - the person elected to set the strategic direction for the police and to oversee their budget and work. It's a complicated relationship. Mr Hogg oversees the police and we scrutinise his work.

The main business was the first look at the Commissioner's draft crime and policing plan for the coming year. In this plan he will set out what he believes the key strategic focus should be and he will set performance targets.

Mr Hogg told us that his key priorities would be support for victims, listening to residents, putting more effort into 'hidden crimes' such as domestic violence and dealing with hate crimes. I cannot fault him on these priorities. But the draft document that he talked through seemed to indicate that everything was a priority so I asked him what was less important to him. He refused to answer this directly but indicated that if it was not listed in the document then it was probably less of a priority. My concern is that there are some pretty big areas which I could not see listed and I would have liked a direct answer on what level of focus he would give to them. The police (and the commissioner) cannot focus on everything, but I think there should be transparency about what is more important.

But much of what was in the draft plan is admirable. I like the fact that the commissioner believes he can influence change in the economy, health and wellbeing, business and to help young people reach their potential. It's a tough ask, but it is good that he is looking that way.

Mr Hogg was also asked about his office and support network and whether he would be appointing deputies and other staff - an issue that has been controversial in other areas. To date Mr Hogg has directly appointed a chief adviser and his office has taken on a Communications Manager. Mr Hogg told us that he would be appointing other advisers, including a victims adviser as a first priority. My notes say that he said he would consider appointing a Deputy in due course although his office have subsequently said that he has no plans to appoint a deputy.

A question was asked about the appointment process and whether this would be through open advertising and recruitment. Mr Hogg gave a commitment to advertising the victims adviser position but not necessarily other posts. I am concerned that public money (typically £60k for a Deputy) should not be spent without a proper appointment process and will be following this up. The people appointed should be the best available, not just people the commissioner knows or has recommended to him by his chums.

Finally, I asked the commissioner about the leak of the name of his proposed candidate for Chief Constable. The acting Chief Constable, Shaun Sawyer, was announced by Mr Hogg on Tuesday morning at 10am. However there had been a leak to the BBC who were running the story much earlier. Mr Hogg assured me that the leak did not come from him (and I take him at his word) although he said he could not give the same guarantee about his staff. I think it is very unfortunate that there is already a culture of leaking somewhere within the new set-up and hope that it stops.

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