Charity News Alert
New Suzy Lamplugh chief plans public service provision
Tania Mason
The Suzy Lamplugh Trust has appointed Steven Gauge, former executive director of Groundwork Southwark & Lambeth, as its new chief executive.
In his new role, Gauge plans to persuade local authorities and local strategic partnerships in “high crime, high fear-of-crime areas” that they should be delivering the Trust’s personal safety training to their constituents.
“We already deliver this service to businesses, but we feel there is an opportunity to expand it to schemes such as the New Deal for Communities in regeneration areas,” he said.
This would also help to make the charity’s funding more diverse and sustainable, he added. Currently, the only statutory funding the Trust receives is a small grant from the Home Office.
Gauge succeeds Julie Bentley who left to join sexual health charity FPA at the end of last year after four years at the Trust’s helm. Bentley was the personal safety charity’s first chief executive after Paul Lamplugh stepped down to take care of wife Diana, who had a stroke and then developed Alzheimer’s disease.
Gauge, 40, worked at Groundwork for nearly three years, during which time he established a new trust to take over the 53-hectare Burgess Park in south London. He was previously membership and communications director at Sussex Enterprise, and spent nine years in his early career establishing the Discovery Channel in the UK.
In his welcome page on the Suzy Lamplugh Trust website, Gauge wrote: “2008 could bring some interesting new challenges for the Trust. With talk of a possible recession, we need to make sure that we are ready for the impact that could have on employers.
“Faced with difficult trading conditions, there is a real danger that businesses will take risks with the personal safety of their staff. Cutting corners when cash is tight could be a false economy. Staff who feel unsafe and at risk at work are unlikely to perform well and companies could face expensive litigation when something goes wrong.”
