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Catherine Hessett
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Background
Catherine Hessett has 20 years experience of working in the public sector following a
successful career of seven years as a university researcher. Her skills are diverse
and complimentary. With an Honours degree in Statistics, Catherine then obtained a
Master degree from the University of Strathclyde in Operational Research (OR) which
is the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions. In
addition she has always had the role of dealing with human resource issues in her management
and senior management posts.
Catherine is a member of the Royal Statistical Society and the Operational Research Society and
has always worked to high professional standards. This has been recognised by the Operational
Research Society by the award of the Presidents Medal for a paper that she published with others.
This award is made by the Society for the best paper published in the year. She was
also awarded a Police Commendation Certificate by the Chief Constable of Northern Constabulary for
her role in the developing Devolved Resource Management in the force.
In 1989, Catherine was appointed as a Member of the Employment Tribunals in Manchester and over the
past 17 years she has heard cases on unfair dismissal, TUPE, unfair selection for redundancy, and
sex discrimination. Catherine continues to sit in this capacity in the Edinburgh Office of the
Employment Tribunals and receives regular training in employment law.
Relevant Experience
Key Experience
 | Public sector funding, performance and policy change |
| Applying statistical techniques for analysis and research |
| Using Operational Research, which is the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods, to help make better decisions |
| Helping public bodies to solve complex problems |
| Developing and implementing service planning |
| Developing methods of measuring and monitoring performance and devising reporting systems |
| In depth knowledge of Local Government Finance, in particular, the Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) system of
revenue funding for councils in Scotland |
| In depth knowledge of indicators appropriate for benchmarking and determining the need to spend by public
bodies, including population measures, indicators of deprivation and population distribution |
| Service evaluations in the Health Service
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Key achievements
| Catherine developed a resource allocation model for Northern Constabulary and was awarded a Police Commendation
Certificate by the Chief Constable "for the outstanding contribution and technical
expertise she was able to bring to the Project Team which developed a Resource Allocation Model for Northern
Constabulary in 2000/2001. |
| Catherine served on many Scottish Executive/Scottish Office - COSLA advisory groups on GAE and other revenue
distribution matters and through this work brought about real improvements to revenue grant distribution in Scotland. |
| Catherine acted as an honest broker for the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) with the group of
officers working on a strategy, proposed by the Highways Agency, for re-signing the M60 Manchester Outer Ring Road
following its completion. Not only did the ten councils not agree with each other on the motorway signing but
also a review of the Primary Route Network (PRN) by the Department of Transport in 1985 had never been accepted by the
councils. The councils were not only in dispute with the Department of Transport on the road classification but
they were also in dispute with each other. The motorway re-signing depended to a large extent on the councils
agreeing the PRN between themselves and with the Department of Transport. By acting as an honest broker,
carrying out analysis, and negotiating and influencing the eleven parties concerned Catherine was able to get them to reach agreement. |
| A paper that Catherine published while working in Strathclyde University as a Research Fellow was awarded the President's Medal for the best paper published in the Journal of the Operational Research Society that year. |
| Catherine established the section giving the facility to carry out surveys and evaluations of service effectiveness throughout North Western Regional Health Authority.
Examples of the studies undertaken are:
| An evaluation of the diabetes clinic and care of patients with diabetes at Manchester Royal Infirmary and the development of a 10 year strategy for the care of people with diabetes in the region. |
| An evaluation of maternity service in Burnley in response to a parliamentary question. |
| An evaluation at attitudes to AIDS. |
| The development of a template for the evaluation of wards providing care to elderly people. |
| A wide range of patient satisfaction surveys. |
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| Catherine was the researcher on the Scottish Head Injury Management Study with the late Professor
Bryan Jennett. During that time she analysed data on kidney donors for the BBC Panorama programme
"Are the donors really dead?" on which Professor Jennett appeared. |
| Catherine has published several papers in a wide range of journals including the Journal of the
Operational Research Society, the Journal of the British Medical Journal, Diabetic Medicine and the
Journal of Management in Medicine. |
Example Assignments
University of Edinburgh
Catherine researched and developed the business case for a Foundation Programme for international
students in the College of Science and Engineering. This initiative is being implemented for academic year 2011-12.
Borders College / Heriot-Watt University
Provision of independent advice in connection with the TUPE implications of developing plans for
shared support services for the proposed co-location on the Netherdale campus as part of a new inter-institutional
model for delivery of Further and Higher Education in the Scottish Borders.
Executive support to the Director of Finance in Highland Council
Catherine’s last role in Local Government was as a member of the Senior Management Team of the
Finance Service in Highland Council. In that capacity she provided executive support to the Director
of Finance by undertaking projects and investigating issues, advising on the findings and appropriate
courses of action. One such project was to reconfigure the Council’s telephone system for calls to the
0800 number for Council Tax and Benefits enquiries. The new configuration that Catherine introduced brought
about an immediate reduction in costs to the Council from £30,000 to £15,000 in the first year and a further
reduction to £3,000 in subsequent years. In this role she was also actively involved in considering the
implementation of the government’s efficiency agenda.
Restructuring of the Finance Service in Highland Council
Catherine undertook the restructuring of the Finance Service in Highland Council for the Director of Finance
in 2002-03. This involved migrating the Council Tax function from Council HQ to the Council’s eight Area Offices and
centralising the Accounting function from the Area Offices to HQ. Around 300 of the 320 posts in the Finance Service
were affected by the reorganisation. Catherine undertook all aspects of the work needed: determining the new structure
in consultation with the senior management of the Service, drawing up ring-fencing arrangements for the new posts,
negotiating with the Trade Unions and writing Committee papers to obtain Member approval for the new structure.
Highland’s geography is challenging, covering one-third of Scotland with its main settlements far apart. Despite this,
Catherine was able to complete the restructuring in 2003 with only one redundancy.
Training and Organisational Development
Following the restructuring Catherine commissioned a Management Development programme for all managers and senior
managers in the Finance Service to equip them for their new roles. The programme was delivered by Peoplematters. It
commenced in July 2004 and was completed in March 2005. The programme covered leadership and motivation, coaching, team
development, and managing performance. An evaluation of the programme was carried out which showed that the programme was
well received by managers. In 2005 she commissioned further organisational development for the Finance Service’s Senior
Management Team. The purpose of this programme was to make the Management Team more strategic in its approach and
outlook. This was carried out in 2005 by Impact Consulting. Catherine also wrote and implemented the Finance Service
Training and Development Policy. The Service’s approach to training and development was awarded a Highland Council
Quality Award in 2006.
Resource allocation model for Northern Constabulary
Catherine developed a distribution model for Northern Constabulary when it introduced devolved resource
management to its eight Area Commands. She was also awarded a Police Commendation Certificate by the Chief Constable of
Northern Constabulary for this work.
Publications
Catherine has published numerous papers in a wide range of journals including the Journal of the Operational Research
Society, the Journal of Management in Medicine, and the British Medical Journal, as well as writing submissions to the
Scottish Parliament and Scottish Executive.
Other Activities
| Member of the Employment Tribunals |
| Chair and organiser of the Performance Management stream at the Operational Research Society Conference 2007 |
| Former Committee Member of the North West OR Group
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