Nick Alston announces Executive Director candidate
Nick Alston, Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex, has announced Susannah Hancock as his candidate for the post of Executive Director to the PCC.
Ms Hancock is required to appear before the Police and Crime Panel, who will hold a confirmation hearing on the afternoon of Thursday July 18, 2013. The Police and Crime Panel meeting is open to the public and will be held at County Hall, Chelmsford, starting at 2:30pm.
Mr Alston said: “I am delighted to have been able to select Susannah as my preferred candidate for the Executive Director post. We held an open and transparent recruitment process, attracting a very high calibre field of candidates of whom Susannah was the best. With her extensive experience in the areas of victim support and reducing reoffending, she brings huge knowledge and expertise to the task of ensuring that crime continues to fall in Essex.
“Susannah also has considerable senior management and executive experience. Earlier in her career she managed the performance of 32 Youth Offending Teams in London as Head of the Youth Justice Board for our capital city, and she is currently Assistant Chief Executive of Victim Support. She will manage the team in my office who are all determined to make Essex an ever safer place in which to live and work. Susannah lives in Essex and knows our county very well.
“The Executive Director post is mandatory, with the details being set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, 2011. It replaces the Chief Executive post which is currently filled on an acting basis.
“I am very mindful of the need to ensure that public money is used in an appropriate and effective fashion. To identify the best candidate, I took specialist recruitment advice, which included benchmarking the responsibilities of the Executive Director role to ensure that the remuneration was set at a fair market rate. The professional evaluation produced a salary band of £76,000 to £86,000 per annum, and I have decided to offer the candidate a salary of £80,000 per annum.
“As a comparison, the post is currently being filled on an acting basis at a salary of £90,000 per annum, and as recently as March 2012, the substantive post of Chief Executive to the Essex Police Authority attracted a salary of £106,000 per annum.
“I remain committed to running the Office of the PCC as efficiently and effectively as possible, at a cost significantly below that of the old Police Authority. I am convinced that Susannah will play an important part in helping to keep our communities safe, and delighted that, subject to confirmation by the Police and Crime Panel, she has agreed to join my team.”
Susannah Hancock said: “I believe the creation of Police and Crime Commissioners represents a real opportunity to make our communities safer. Throughout my professional life I have worked with offenders, many of them young people, and with victims of crime, and that experience helps shape every decision I make. We must redouble our focus on victims and on breaking the cycle of reoffending. These are challenging times, but I very much hope to be able to join the Police and Crime Commissioner team in Essex and be a part of this crucial work.”
