FIRE STANDARDS BOARD - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Independent Director
• Member of the Board
• Independent Vice - Chair

Alison is an Independent Director with a non-executive portfolio which has a focus on a variety of professions, professionalism and customer service. She is a Non-Executive Board Member for the Office of Legal Complaints and at the Office of the Public Guardian, a lay member of the Regulatory Tribunal for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and a lay member of the Registration Advisory Committee for the General Optical Council. Until April 2017, Alison was the Chief Operating Officer at the Nursing and Midwifery Council. In previous Senior Civil Service roles, she led major transformation and change programmes and also delivered sensitive operational support services to members of the Armed Forces and Veterans. Subsequently, Alison gained private sector experience in technology programme delivery at Hewlett Packard. Alison is an Independent Director with a non-executive portfolio. She is a Non-Executive Board Member for Office of the Public Guardian, a chairing lay member of the Regulatory Tribunal for the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a lay member of the Registration Advisory Committee for the General Optical Council.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board

Ben is the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire. Since 2007 he has been working and campaigning for communities across Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent. During this time, he has held senior council positions which have allowed him to help increase jobs, raise standards in schools and colleges and to modernise and improve public services. Ben seeks to hold services accountable to the public they serve, delivering what is needed whilst being efficient. As commissioner he is responsible for the performance of Staffordshire's Police and Fire & Rescue services holding them to account based on local plans setting out the safety priorities and expectations of the public in Staffordshire. He is responsible for the budgets of both organisations and is the employer of the Fire & Rescue Service under current legislation.

Job Titles:

• Board Members

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board

Mark took over the role of the Chair of the NFCC from Roy Wilsher in April 2021. He is looking forward to leading and working with the UK fire and rescue service and associated bodies during his tenure. Mark began his fire service career 30 years ago in Essex and served across many fire stations and in many roles. He was appointed as the Deputy Chief Fire Officer in Suffolk in 2010 and then Chief Fire Officer and County Council Director in 2013. Alongside his Chief Fire Officer role he held Director responsibilities in the Council for Highways, Passenger Transport, Emergency Planning, Trading Standards, Community Safety, Equality and Inclusion and Health & Safety. He chaired the County Council Chief Fire Officer's Group for many years and has led Peer Challenges in five fire and rescue services. Mark was Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) Protection & Business Safety Committee between 2017 and 2020. He helped ensure the NFCC took a national leadership role with Government, working closely with Ministers, civil servants, Devolved Governments, Local Government, HMICFRS and many other stakeholders. NFCC has ensured the professional Protection voice of the UK fire and rescue service has been heard throughout and to work towards a safer built environment across the UK.

Job Titles:

• Member of the Board
• Chairman of the National Guardian Office 's Accountability
• Independent Chair

Suzanne is Chair of the National Guardian Office's Accountability and Liaison Board, Deputy Chair of the Valuation Tribunal Service, and a Non-Executive Board member of the College of Policing, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and the Fundraising Regulator where she chairs the Standards Committee. She also chairs two charities , and in December 2023 was appointed as a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors' Professional Standards Steering Group. She has been CEO of both the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Her last Executive role was as the UK's Immigration Services Commissioner. Initially working as a lawyer, with an LL.M. degree from Cambridge, she left private practice and then lectured in law at Manchester University before going into the civil service working first at the Home Office, where she served as Private Secretary to two Home Secretaries, and then at HM Treasury.