Secretariat

The team

Phil Golding

Chief Executive 

Phillip.golding@apccs.police.uk

Phil Golding was appointed as CEO at the APCC in October 2022. Before that, he held a number of roles in the Ministry of Justice, including Head of the Senior Presiding Judge’s Office, Head of Crime for the South West, Courts’ Manager for Avon, Somerset and Gloucestershire and, in his last role, CEO of the Law Commission. He also sat as a magistrate in Kent until taking up the APCC role.

Marcus Roberts

Director of Policy and Strategy

Marcus.roberts@apccs.police.uk

Marcus Roberts joined the APCC as Director of Policy and Strategy in 2019. Before that he held a number of roles in local government and the charity sector, including Head of Strategy and Performance at the City of London Corporation, Senior Policy and Strategy Advisor at Essex County Council, Chief Executive at DrugScope and Head of the Policy and Parliamentary Unit at Mind.

Catherine Bithell

Head of Communications and Public Affairs

Catherine.Bithell@apccs.police.uk 

Catherine Bithell joined the APCC in September 2023 having worked in senior communications roles in government, for think tanks, trade associations and professional bodies.  Previously she served as Director of Communications for The College of Optometrists, for the innovation body Nesta, the Chartered Quality Institute and Unite trade union.

Carolyn Graham

Head of Governance and Business 

Carolyn.graham@apccs.police.uk

Carolyn Graham joined the APCC as Head of Governance and Business In November 2021.  Prior to that Carolyn worked for four years as Head of Private Office for Merseyside PCC, and has extensive experience of working in local and national government, and started her career within the Finance Sector.

Dawn Osborne

Office Manager/PA to Chair and Chief Executive

Dawn.osborne@apccs.police.uk 

Dawn organises all APCC events, which includes General Meetings, APCC/NPCC Joint Summit and APPG, the daily running of the office, and Secretariat duties for both the Chair of the APCC and the Chief Executive.

Clarissa Hawthorne

Communications Adviser

Clarissa.hawthorne@apccs.police.uk

Clarissa joined the APCC in May 2018 to develop and deliver a programme of external communications to raise the profile of PCCs and their national policy priorities. Before joining the APCC, Clarissa worked for the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, the Police Digital Service, Sussex Police and prior to that had a career in national broadcast television.

Jessica Ferguson

Public Affairs Officer

Jessica supports the APCC's communications and public affairs function, with a particular focus on parliamentary engagement. Prior to joining the Association in August 2021, she worked in a similar role for a membership body within the healthcare sector.

Jamie Hurst

Senior Advisor 

Jamie.hurst@apccs.police.uk

Jamie joined the APCC in 2016 and works as a senior advisor. Until September 2023 he led the communications and public affairs function at the Association. Prior to this, he worked in a range of policy, public affairs and communications roles across the public, private and third sectors.

Andrew Tremayne

Senior Policy Manager

Andrew.tremayne@apccs.police.uk

Andy is a Senior Policy Manager covering three portfolios: Citizens in Policing; Standards and Leadership; and Workforce.

Eddie Smithwick

Senior Policy Manager

Eddie.smithwick@apccs.police.uk

Eddie joined the APCC in 2017 as a Senior Policy Manager and leads our work with PCCs on crime prevention, emergency service collaboration and mental health and custody.

Eddie has previously spent time working at a Police and Crime Commissioner’s office, delivering a range of work around victims’ services, community safety partnerships, and custody visiting, as well as national guidance on police and crime plans. Eddie’s experience is built upon his time working for a Member of Parliament, with a metropolitan police authority and in the civil service (HM Courts and Tribunals).

Ella Thomas

Senior Policy Manager

Ella.thomas@apccs.police.uk

Ella is a Senior Policy Manager covering the Criminal Justice and Victims portfolios.

She joined on secondment in July 2021 from the Ministry of Justice where she worked across Criminal Justice System Governance and Strategy, with extensive cross departmental and local partnership working. Prior to this, Ella worked across policy and operational delivery in the Department for Education.

Alex Campbell

Senior Policy Manager 

Alexandra.Campbell@apccs.police.uk

Alex is the Policy Lead for Forensics, Specialist Capabilities and Serious Organised Crime. She also supports PCCs to provide leadership on Police Transformation and Police Public Contact, including 101 and Single Online Home (SOH). She joined the APCC in October 2017 to support PCCs in delivering the Policing Vision 2025.  Prior to that, she worked in Brussels and in Kosovo.

Simon Efford

Senior Policy Manager

Simon.efford@apccs.police.uk

Simon's role is to support Police and Crime Commissioners in relation to finance and resources issues. He has been involved in the evolution of the national Police Resources submission work and he is central to the current Joint Stakeholder approach to the programme.

James Hughes

Senior Policy Manager

James.hughes@apccs.police.uk

James joined the APCC in February 2017. He is on secondment to the Capabilities Reform Unit in the Home Office where he supports PCCs with their governance of Digital, Data and Technology.

Before joining the APCC, James was a senior civil servant and worked in various Departments including the Department for Energy and Climate Change, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Richard Denham

Policy and Political Group Manager

Richard.denham@apccs.police.uk

Richard leads on the portfolio work of the Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Portfolio, as well as providing secretariat services to the Labour Police and Crime Commissioners’ Group.

Will Pryce

Policy Manager

Will.pryce@apccs.police.uk

Will is the APCC policy lead for local policing and partnerships, which supports PCCs on matters relating to neighbourhood policing, contact management and anti-social behaviour. He also manages the road safety and road safety and roads policing portfolio and business crime portfolio.

Will started his career at the European Parliament, liaising between the UK Government and EU on transport, tourism, business, animal welfare and crime. He was then a campaign manager and advisor for a UK political party during the 2015 and 2017 General and Local Elections. Next, he managed public affairs for a large employers’ association, lobbying governments on legislative changes for small businesses.

Paul Dutton

Senior Policy Manager

Paul.dutton@apccs.police.uk

Paul is Senior Policy Manager covering the Police Technology, Digital and ICT portfolio.

Libby Avery

Policy Officer

Libby.avery@apccs.police.uk

Libby joined the APCC in November 2020 and is the policy lead for Serious Violence, Local Policing and Business and Retail Crime. Prior to working at the APCC Libby worked within the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk assisting in the commissioning of support services for victims of crime.

Simon Talbot

Corporate Governance Officer

Simon.talbot@apccs.police.uk

Simon supports APCC Board Meetings, APCC General Meetings and the NPCC Audit and Assurance Board. Simon previously worked for a charity which was commissioned by the Home Office to review the performance of local community safety partnerships. Before that he worked in local government supporting the development of multi-agency crime reduction projects in high crime areas.

Kavisha Rodrigo

Policy Assistant

Kavisha.rodrigo@apccs.police.uk

Kavisha joined the APCC in August 2022 and works within the Safer Communities Group. Kavisha is primarily involved within the Mental Health & Custody, Emergency Service Collaboration, and Prevention portfolios. Prior to joining the APCC, Kavisha worked within police recruitment and supported diverse individuals to be leaders on the policing frontline through a partnership scheme. Kavisha also holds a BA and MA in History.