Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez has appointed her former Torbay Council colleague Mark Kingscote as her deputy, announcing the decision on the same day that the Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel voted against it.
The panel, comprised of councillors from across the region, meets quarterly to “support and challenge” the Police and Crime Commissioner. At its July meeting it voted against the appointment of Mark Kingscote as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Devon and Cornwall.
Immediately after the vote Plymouth city councillor and panel chair Sally Haydon said: “The panel agrees that the candidate does not meet the minimum requirements of the post”, adding that it “recommends that the candidate should not be appointed.”
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner nevertheless announced the same day that Mark Kingscote had been appointed as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for twelve months on a part-time basis.
This is the second time Alison Hernandez has put Mark Kingscote forward for the £58,476 per annum post.
She also proposed his appointment as her deputy in July 2017, during a Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel meeting at which she faced a no confidence vote in response to comments she had made on BBC Radio Cornwall about licensed firearm owners acting during terrorist incidents.
The panel made the same recommendation then as it did earlier this month: that Mark Kingscote should not be appointed as he did not meet the minimum requirements of the post.
Mark Kingscote and Alison Hernandez. Photo: Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.
The Police and Crime Commissioner said she “reluctantly” accepted the panel’s recommendation in 2017.
This time she said she needed help with overseeing Devon & Cornwall Police because of “challenges in performance” and the temporary arrangements that are a result of the suspension of Chief Constable Will Kerr in July last year following allegations of sexual offences.
She said she needed to focus “in a different way this term of office” and referred to a recent assessment by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services that she said “still shows Devon and Cornwall Police in a poor light”.
She said Mark Kingscote, who recently took early retirement from the NHS where he had worked in mental health services, was the best candidate for deputy commissioner because of his political experience.
She cited his stint as a council planning committee chair, saying she needed help with planning applications made on behalf of the commissioner’s estate after several had been refused.
These include the refusal of an application to build co-living and student accommodation blocks on the site of the former Heavitree Road police station and magistrates court.
She also said he had the right skills and capabilities required to work at “street level” in Torbay to create a blueprint to tackle crime that could be applied to the whole of Devon and Cornwall.
She added that she had a “very close working relationship” with Mark Kingscote, saying she needed a deputy she could trust and who shared her views.
A huge thank you to my friend Cllr Mark Kingscote who has pushed and supported me for #PCC #InternationalWomensDay pic.twitter.com/iR7FbnfwKL
— Alison Hernandez (@AlisonHernandez) March 8, 2016
During a charged discussion, some Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Panel members questioned Mark Kingscote’s credentials and suitability for the position while others sought to clarify the nature of his relationship with the commissioner.
Torridge district councillor Philip Hackett said the panel were being asked to consider a candidate “who has made an entirely inappropriate comment on social media”, returning to an issue raised when Alison Hernandez first proposed him as her deputy. The post has since been deleted.
Alison Hernandez said that she hadn’t been offended by the comment at the time, adding: “I am confident that Mr Kingscote is not prejudiced, is not discriminatory and I am confident that he will represent me well”.
Philip Hackett asked Mark Kingscote, who was also present at the panel meeting, in what capacity he had attended the opening of the new Exeter Police Station at Middlemoor in February 2020.
Mark Kingscote said he had represented Torbay Council as an elected councillor at the event.
When Philip Hackett then pointed out that Mark Kingscote’s term had ended in May 2019, Mark Kingscote said: “The invitation went to the Conservative group and I was asked to attend, which I did.”
He added: “I may not have been a councillor at the time but I was still very much …” before being interrupted by Philip Hackett, who said: “You were not.”
Loved going out on my old patch with Cllr Mark Kingscote. Thank you Shiphay for all your support! #PCC #TorbayHour pic.twitter.com/Ivbf5KziIA
— Alison Hernandez (@AlisonHernandez) April 27, 2016
Cornwall councillor Armand Toms asked Alison Hernandez how many candidates had been interviewed for the deputy commissioner role and how she had selected Mark Kingscote in preference to the others.
Alison Hernandez said she had had a few conversations with other individuals, adding: “They just didn’t bring enough experience in governance, in scrutiny, in estates”.
She said: “This is not going to be a part-time role. I did even consider some elected councillors but they don’t have the time to give to this role. I need someone who has the time to be able to do it.”
Plymouth city councillor Chris Penberthy said the proposal appeared to be based on personal feelings, raising questions around the Nolan principles of public life.
Devon county councillor Dan Thomas added: “If I was a journalist and I wanted to make mischief I would write a headline that says ‘Commissioner appoints her mate to a really cushy job for lots of cash’”.
Alison Hernandez said the appointment of her deputy was a political matter, and a decision for the commissioner to make.
Alison Hernandez and Mark Kingscote were both elected to Torbay Council in 2011, both serving four-year terms as Conservative ward councillors in Shiphay-with-The Willows.
Mark Kingscote was re-elected in 2015, when Alison Hernandez became chief of staff for newly-elected Torbay MP Kevin Foster.
Mark Kingscote then took part in Alison Hernandez’ campaign to become Devon and Cornwall Police and Crime Commissioner in 2016. He lost his Torbay Council seat in 2019 following ward changes. He also campaigned for her re-election as commissioner this year.
