Interviews for who will become the chief constable of Leicestershire Police take place next week, but the commissioner charged with making the appointment refuses to say how many officers have applied. 

Current chief constable Rob Nixon announced in January that he would retire in March, having served in the police for 32 years. 

Leicestershire and Rutland's Police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews has advertised the chief constable post and says interviews will take place next week, but refused to answer the question of how many applications had been received. 

The commissioner will sit with an appointed panel to decide who to put forward as a preferred candidate. Last time Baroness Nicky Morgan and the Leicestershire chief fire officer Callum Faint sat in on the interview process. 

A confirmation hearing date will then be set, when the preferred candidate is put before the police and crime panel for interview. The panel then goes into a confidential session to decide whether to appoint or refuse the commissioner's preferred candidate. 

The Leicestershire force was inspected last year and in December a report was published which rated it as good in four areas, adequate in two and requiring improvement in investigating crime and responding to crime.