What we learnt from the Danielle Stone hotseat

Northamptonshire's police, fire and crime commissioner (PFCC) said her first seven months in the role have been "a bit of a rollercoaster".

Labour's Danielle Stone was elected to the role in May to replace her Conservative predecessor Stephen Mold, who decided not to stand again after making misogynistic comments.

Ms Stone took part in a hotseat on BBC Radio Northampton's breakfast show and this is what we learnt...

Reflecting on her short time in charge, Ms Stone - formerly a teacher and West Northamptonshire councillor - said she had come to appreciate the nuances of the services which she oversees.

"It's been a bit of a rollercoaster because I had lots to learn," she said.

"We all think we know about the police but we don't, do we? It's a very complicated area of work and then I have fire as well, which is lovely.

"I've had a lot of learning to do and I have been delighted with the people I have met in the police and the fire service who are up for change."

Her election came in the midst of an unstable time within both Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS).

Chief constable Nick Adderley was suspended and ultimately sacked for lying about his career, while an investigation was also held into the appointment of fire chief Nikki Watson before it ruled there was no case to answer.

But Ms Stone said she now felt both services were "marching in the right direction".

Following her election, the PFCC said her priority was to build trust in the police and fire services in the county.

She said that now she had settled into the role, this work was progressing with an emphasis on delivering "visible and accessible policing".

Ms Stone said the services were operating "within our limited resources", but said draft plans to increase the police and fire precept element of the county's council tax would help implement a neighbourhood policing strategy.

The proposed increase, which is open to public consultation, suggests that a band D household will pay at least £15 more per year for the police precept and £5 per year for the fire service.

She said Northamptonshire had about 1.9 police officers per 1,000 of population and that acting chief constable Ivan Balhatchet had said this should rise to 2.8 police officers per 1,000 of population.

"We are going to do it within our limited resources," said Ms Stone.

In September, a report noted "a lack of progress" in NFRS that was "down to recent constant changes in leadership".

Last month, fire deputy Simon Tuhill was appointed as the new chief fire officer of West Midlands Fire Service, compounding recent "instability".

Ms Stone said: "We all loved Simon and he made a big impact in Northamptonshire, through some sticky times. We are very grateful for him.

"We expect good people to be ambitious. [There is] cultural difficulty full stop, in every walk of life."

She added: "The world is male shaped, designed by men, for men. We have got to change that and it is being changed.

"There's me and my wonderful deputy [Marianne Kimani], Nikki Watson in fire, and we have senior women coming through in the police service."

Ms Stone said that Northamptonshire Police has suffered a "double whammy" of low trust in the service because of national issues and "reputational" damage caused by Nick Adderley's public dismissal.

She said she expected a new police chief to be offered the post by 12 January and that they would start the job soon after.

Despite the issues, she said that "all the feedback I'm getting is people are feeling a lot happier".

Ms Stone added she had "set my stall out" to be a "critical friend to the fire service and police" with the aim of improving relationships.

"I think there is a real sense of a shared endeavour." she said.

The PFCC said her introduction to the role had been "very busy" with "lots of figures to have a look at and lots of reading to do".

Describing an average day in her job, she said she had to "keep an eye on the budget" and had "lots of people to meet and decisions to make".

She said she was based at the PFCC office in Wellingborough two or three days per week and spent a lot of time out in the community, including visits to all of the county's full-time fire stations and was "working through" visiting the retained fire stations.

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