A North East police commissioner’s appointment of a new deputy has been signed off – despite questions about the need for the job.

Newcastle Labour councillor Clare Penny-Evans has been named as second in command to the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Susan Dungworth. Her appointment was ratified by a panel of councillors after a confirmation hearing in Gateshead on Tuesday afternoon.

However, concerns have been raised about the need for the PCC to have a deputy, a role which comes with a £65,000 pro-rata annual salary. The Northumbria force area has not had a deputy PCC for 10 years, when former chief superintendent Mark Dennett retired during Vera Baird’s first term in office.

Dame Vera did not name another deputy and her successor, the now North East mayor Kim McGuinness, never appointed one during her five years as PCC. Coun Clare Penny-Evans will take up the role on a part-time basis from September, working three days a week.

Gordon Stewart, a Conservative councillor in Northumberland, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service after Tuesday’s panel meeting: “Concern has to be raised about the need for a deputy PCC. The cost to the taxpayer has to be considered, as well as why the previous PCC did not choose to have a deputy.

“There have been no adverse comments about the candidate and I hope she does well in the role. But I also have concerns about the lack of a defined purpose for the job.”

A report to the Northumbria Police and Crime Panel said that the exact role of the deputy had not yet been finalised. Panel chair Angela Douglas, a Labour cabinet member in Gateshead, confirmed that councillors had endorsed the appointment but members “did express some reservations about the process”.

Coun Nick Oliver, also a Northumberland Tory, questioned the candidate during the hearing on how she could know she was qualified for the position without knowing what her responsibilities would be and confirmed afterwards that he voted against her appointment, accusing the PCC's office of "poor recruitment practice" and making an "unnecessary political appointment".

Coun Penny-Evans replied that she had worked in the region’s community and voluntary sector for over 30 years, including advocating for children’s rights and running a mediation service, and that her experience was “always about working with and listening to communities”.

The Labour councillor, who plans to stay on as a city councillor but will leave her current day job, added that her past role as chair of the Safe Newcastle board had also given her experience in a wide range of policing issues. She said she was particularly passionate about tackling violence against women and girls and that there was a “fantastic opportunity” to do so with the new Labour government, which has pledged to half such crimes over the next decade, but that her role as deputy would ultimately be to back up the elected PCC in “whatever she wants me to support her with”.

Police commissioners are not required to name a deputy, but a Home Office review undertaken during Boris Johnson’s government recommended that it be mandated to “to ensure continuity in unforeseen circumstances”. Mrs Dungworth said she had decided to follow that advice and that it was her decision not to set defined functions for the deputy’s role at this stage, preferring it to be “fluid” while the PCC is still developing a new police and crime plan for the region.

The PCC said she had “wanted to appoint someone with the skills and experience to put their hands to whatever” and that Coun Penny-Evans “brings with her an impressive track record of public service”.