Dorset PCC Martyn Underhill set to appoint volunteer deputy

Dorset PCC Martyn Underhill has announced his intention to appoint special advisor Colin Pipe to the role and the decision will be made at a police and crime panel meeting on Thursday.

If appointed, Mr Pipe will work voluntarily and without payment until May 2016.

Last month, he resigned from his post as governor of the Royal Bournemouth Hospital over the Basil Fozard scandal.

Mr Underhill said: “I have always stated clearly that I would not place an additional salary cost on the office by appointing a deputy in my first term. “However, in recent months, both the chief constable and the police and crime panel have urged me to reconsider such an appointment.

“I stated then that I would consider standing for election in May 2016 with a deputy and ask the electorate for a mandate to spend public money on a deputy in the next term if I am elected.

“That is what I am now doing intending to do.”

Mr Underhill said he is making the “difficult decision” as the role has expanded since he was elected.

“The appointment will provide invaluable support to my role without imposing cost on the public, as Mr Pipe has agreed to undertake this role in a voluntary capacity until May 2016,” he said.

“It is my intention that I will stand for election with Mr Pipe as my deputy for the next term should I succeed in being re-elected.”

In February 2015 Mr Pipe was appointed as special advisor in a voluntary capacity to the PCC.

In August he announced that he would not be continueing in his role as hospital governor after consultant Mr Fozard was re-hired as medical director on £152,000 a year – £20,000 more than his previous salary – one month after being allowed to retire with a £1.9million pension, including which included a £325,000 lump sum.

An outcry led to the elected governors to call an emergency meeting, and lead governor Bob Gee said talks would be private as they are “difficult for the public to understand”.

His remarks prompted Mr Pipe to resign.