Alison has worked in and for policing for over 30 years since her first days as a researcher for City of London Police. Alison is passionate about the practical aspects of policy implementation, analysing how initiatives fit together in the bigger picture of policing as a whole.

During her 21 years working as the Police Advisor for CIPFA, she endeavoured to examine these issues and to share good practice being developed by forces and consider their application to other areas, through the CIPFA Police and Fire Network. More recently, she was also involved in the establishment and running of the Achieving Financial Excellence in Policing (AFEP) programme.

Alison was involved in the financial and governance aspects of police reform, including the introduction of police and crime commissioners (PCCs) in 2012 and legislation to allow PCCs to take on the governance of fire and rescue services in 2017. Alison has worked closely with the Home Office, HMICFRS, National Audit Office and Audit Wales over many years. Since leaving CIPFA in December 2021, Alison undertakes consultancy projects in policing and is a police and fire associate advisor for CIPFA.

Alison has an Honours degree in Economics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and a Master’s degree in Politics (public policy) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.