States CEO recognised for service to the public

Monday 12 October 2020

Paul Whitfield has been awarded an OBE for four decades of service to the public sector, which saw him work in military service and some of the UK's most dangerous prisons before becoming Chief Executive of the States of Guernsey.

Mr Whitfield has been a public servant for more than 40 years and began his career in the UK before returning to Guernsey.

"Apart from my time in the military early on, I then did a lot of work in the prison estate and then Home Office in the UK," he explained.

"I had a wonderful experience, although hugely challenging and working in some of the most difficult custodial environments in the UK. Working at one time in a very special unit for the most dangerous of criminals - a very small unit of up to 30 out of the whole population of offenders in the UK, which was about 80,000 at the time.

"30 were deemed to be so highly dangerous they were still dangerous when they were in custody."

Pictured: Paul Whitfield worked with offenders in prisons across the UK. 

"I was lucky enough to be one of the first people to become a tutor in cognitive behavioural therapy, working with very difficult offenders and difficult problems.

"I was also trained as a riot commander because there was what they call the ‘decade of riots’ in the UK  and I was part of the UK national task force called Tornado. We were trained to go into prisons that had lost control and return the prison to normality."

Following his stint with the UK Home Office working on the development of a new prison model, Mr Whitfield returned home to Guernsey to become the island's first Deputy Prison Governor.

He was then appointed Chief Officer of the Home Department, where he played a key role in securing the future of Guernsey's essential fuel supplies at short notice and helped to create a joint law enforcement body.

In 2013 he was elected as the first Chief Executive of the States of Guernsey, with responsibility for more than 5,000 employees - a position he has held ever since.

Pictured: Paul Whitfield has frequently appeared on the panel during the island's corona virus media briefings. 

"My whole pathway through life has been based on leadership," said Mr Whitfield. "I went to an academy of junior leadership when I left Guernsey at the start of my career path and I think that does shape you to be pragmatic, proportionate and see the bigger picture. But most importantly - and I first got this from my grandfather - you have to make sure you understand the people in everything.

"People are our most important asset and I think you have to understand people and work with people, even in this time of technology and AI, because ultimately it is the people that sit behind all that."

Mr Whitfield has been praised for his work throughout his career, as well as his continuing efforts to restructure the local public service.

When he was contacted by Government House with news of his award, he felt "absolutely shocked and surprised".

Pictured: Mr Whitfield was invited to attend a celebratory event at Government House over the weekend.

"It comes completely out of the blue," he said. "Apart from being truly humbled, I'm also proud. I'm obviously proud of myself but I'm principally proud for what I represent, which is an awful lot of people who do an awful lot of work for our community."

Mr Whitfield said that coping with the pandemic in recent months has been one of the biggest challenges in his 40 year career.

"A lot of us thrive on challenge and it is a challenge for good cause, it's about the protection of our community. It's one of the most complex situations that I think any of us could possibly believe we would have to handle.

"But we have got the most tremendous people; Dr Brink and the Public Health team, the fantastic communications team, a brilliant external relations team and all the general staff. We couldn't wish for more in Guernsey - you're in good hands."

Pictured top: Chief Executive of the States of Guernsey, Paul Whitfield.