IN RELATION to your recent article, the Taxpayers Alliance has asked me to explain why I have now decided to appoint a Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner.

Next May, PCC elections will take place across the country.

I was the first PCC to declare that I shall be standing for re-election in 2016.

I am also the first PCC to declare that I shall be standing with a named deputy.

Interestingly, the recent report “Tone from the top: Leadership, ethics and accountability in policing” from the Committee on Standards in Public Life has recommended this as good practice.

My principal reason for stating in the past that I would not appoint a deputy during my first term of office was that I would not place a financial burden on the taxpayer without a mandate from the public.

The election result, if I am successful, will provide that mandate. Until the election, Colin Pipe’s appointment as a voluntary deputy PCC imposes no salary cost on the public.

His appointment now means that I will have an evidential base for both the value of having a deputy and for Mr Pipe’s suitability for that job before any cost has been incurred.

In the light of such evidence and, if I am successful in the election, I would propose appointing Colin Pipe as a paid DPCC.

That appointment and the terms and conditions applicable will be informed by the views of the Police and Crime Panel who will be consulted at that stage.

Martyn Underhill Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner