About the Probation Board

The Northamptonshire Probation Board is the body responsible for the Probation Service within the County. The board currently comprises of 11 members which includes a Board Chair, the Chief Officer and other members appointed by the Home Secretary. The Board is funded annually by the Home Office but is responsible for the management of the budget once allocated. The Board is also the employer of the Probation Staff within the area and is accountable for meeting a range of targets set nationally. The Board Chair, David Moir was appointed in April 2007, having served as a Board member since 2004 .

The Board normally meets 10 times a year. At these meetings it considers regular reports on performance, finance, business planning and operational progress; together with reports on specific policy, staffing quality and strategic matters.

In addition to Board Member responsibilities, members also belong to one or more audit/scrutiny forums and working groups which look in more details at particular aspects of the services activities. They may be involved in liaison meetings with other organisations .

The Board Members :

A summary of the Board Members’ varied backgrounds and experiences are as follows:

Mr David Moir JP

David became a lay member of the Northamptonshire Probation Board in May 2004 and was appointed as Board Chair in April 2007. David has over 30 years experience in local government management in Leicester, Harborough and Northampton.

Mr Eric Montgomerie JP

Eric has been a Justice of the Peace in Northamptonshire since 1989. In 1973 Eric was employed by Avon cosmetics where he worked for over 27 years in a number of Senior Management roles and a number of international locations. In 2000 Eric started his own consultancy business advising supply chain and training strategies. Within the local community Eric is also a Board Member for the Northamptonshire Courts Service; a member of the Lord Chancellors Advisory Committee for Northamptonshire and is also a member of Wellingborough Prison Independent Monitoring Board.

Mr Rodney Carroll

Rodney Carroll, once a Probation Officer has held Senior Managerial positions for over thirty years including twelve years as a Director in Northern Ireland . Rodney was also the Deputy Director of the Central Probation Council and its successor, the Probation Boards’ Association.

For six years Rodney was also a Special Advisor to the Northern Ireland Council of the Red Cross Society. He has played a significant role in the development of qualification structures for Probation Staff and has been at the heart of the development of the National Probation Service.

Rodney is also a previous Chair and board Member of the Community Justice National Training Organisation and has served on the Health and Social Care Advisory Group to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

Mrs Josephine Palmer

Josephine has had extensive experience of working in education in both the public and private sectors. She was Principal of a fee paying College in Oxford and then moved to the Local Education Authority organising education and training for hard to reach and challenging groups. Josephine has also been self employed as a Management consultant and currently works part time for the National Health Service managing training at Kettering and Northampton General Hospital. Her passion is for all things equestrian. Josephine was appointed to the board in February 2006.

Mr Ian Russell

Ian’s professional background is accountancy and he is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Ian has spent his career in the public sector working in both the National Health Service and Local Government. Among the Senior positions he has held are the Director of Finance for Waltham Forest Health Authority in East London and Chief Social Services Officer for Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council in West Yorkshire. Ian was appointed as a Non Executive Director of Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust in November 2005.

 Judge Stephen Waine

Stephen Waine was educated at Rugby School and Southampton University and was awarded an LLB in 1968. Stephen was called by Lincoln ’s Inn in 1969. Stephen was also recorder at the Midlands Circuit between 1992 and 2001 and went on to be circuit judge in 2001. In 2006 he became a designated Family Judge in Northampton Town and has been a member of the Northants Probation Board since October 2004. His hobbies include most ball games and skiing

Mr Allan C K Siu , JP. BSc(Hons), MBA, RGN, FAETC

Allan joined the Board in April 2007. He experienced a wide career in the NHS; holding managerial positions in operational management and commissioning in Health Trusts and Health Authorities. Most recently, he was a senior manager in Corporate Performance in Lincolnshire. Allan was appointed as a magistrate in 2002.  He is a member of Northamptonshire combined youth court panel and of Northamptonshire Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee.  

Mr Roland Bedford

Roland Bedford was a Senior Manager in local government for many years before training as the first in-house legal advisor to the Community Fund (the distributor of lottery funds for voluntary and community organisations). In 2000 Roland left that role to take up his part time appointment with the probation Board in January 2003. He is also a trustee of several local charities in the Watford area. He was a member of a national working group on voluntary sector governance and has completed a post graduate diploma course in Social Enterprise.

Donna Pumfrey

Donna is a solicitor by training but has spent most of her career in management positions in the Financial Services sector where she has held a number of management roles including Head of Human Resources and Head of Legal and Public affairs. For the last 8 years Donna has been employed by MBNA Europe Bank Ltd., now part of Bank of America, where she was Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs until the end of June 2007. Donna is now the Public Policy Executive, EMEA for Bank of America. She has just completed a term as a member of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee for Northamptonshire.

Mr Gopalan (Peter) Pillai JP, BSc Hons, MBA, RMN.

Peter, a magistrate (2000) joined the Northampton Probation board in May 2008. He has varied clinical and managerial expertise and experience in psychiatric and psychological care.
He has been the chairman of SERVE, a local expanding charity for over 15 years. SERVE delivers comprehensive services, from day care to home care, personal transportation for clinical and social needs, to voluntary staff recruitment for other organisations.
He is also a board member of Cultural Community Partnerships, a charity appointed to operate local authority's portfolio of leisure and cultural facilities.

If you would like to know more about the work of Northamptonshire Probation Board, please contact:

Mr Roland Bedford
Board Secretary
Northamptonshire Probation Headquarters
Walter Tull House
43/47 Bridge Street
Northampton
NN1 1NS

Tel: 01604 658000
Fax: 01604 658089