IOPC appoints interim Director General

Mr Lockwood said on Friday that he had decided to step down for “for personal and domestic reasons”.

But Home Secretary Suella Braverman said on Saturday she was forced to take “immediate action” after being made aware that Mr Lockwood was the subject of a police investigation into a “historical allegation”.

The IOPC confirmed that Tom Whiting had been appointed as interim Director General following a special meeting on Sunday (December 4).

In a statement IOPC senior non-executive director Julia Mulligan said: “Michael Lockwood resigned from the post on Friday December 2 with immediate effect

“The Home Secretary has confirmed Mr Lockwood is the subject of a police investigation into an historical allegation.

“In line with the Police Reform Act 2002, Mr Whiting’s appointment has been ratified by the Home Secretary to whom the Director General is directly accountable.

“Mr Whiting has been the deputy director general of the IOPC since February 2019.

“It is vital the IOPC continues to fulfil its statutory duties and we are confident that Mr Whiting can provide the necessary leadership and reassurance to our staff and stakeholders at this challenging time, until a permanent director general is appointed.”

Mr Lockwood was the first Director General appointed to lead the IOPC when it replaced the Independent Police Complaints Commission in 2018.

In a statement following his resignation he said: “It has been an enormous privilege to serve as the first Director General of the IOPC and to have led the organisation for the past five years.

“I am proud of the progress we have made and I am grateful to all our staff, the Unitary Board and external stakeholders for all their support.”

By law, the IOPC Director General can never have worked for the police.

Mr Whiting joined the IOPC in February 2019 as the Deputy Director General Strategy and Corporate Services.

Prior to this he spent 14 years in local government at the London Borough of Harrow, most recently as its interim chief executive from January 2018. He was corporate director of resources from 2013 to 2018 and was assistant chief executive from 2008. During this time Mr Whiting led on the council’s Improvement Programme that saw Harrow win multiple industry awards, including the most Improved Council in the country in 2011 and further awards for customer service digitalisation and IT transformation in 2016.

From 2010 until leaving, he was responsible for the council’s savings and transformation programmes in response to reduced public sector funding. These programmes were recognised for not only delivering efficiency and saving money but also for improving services and improving satisfaction for residents. In 2013 he led the modernisation and restructuring of the finance, human resources and procurement functions, the development of shared services for legal and procurement and the development of digital and self-service customer channels across all areas. These shared services were pioneering in the sector and led to the creation of the largest legal in-house service in the country. He also led the re-let of the council’s outsourced ICT contract in 2015.

As Interim chief executive he led for West London Local Government on improved integration between health and social care services and oversaw the transition to the new Basic Command Unit structure working with the police, with the merger of three boroughs. He has throughout his time at Harrow worked closely with local residents and local community and voluntary organisations as an ambassador for the council and as a result improved public perception and confidence. He also led external lobbying and stakeholder relations for Harrow about local government funding and oversaw new programmes to transform adult social care.

Mr Whiting graduated in 1996 and worked at Accenture for nine years in its energy and utilities practice, specialising in mergers and acquisitions and the deregulation of utility and energy markets in the UK, Europe and the Middle East.