Exploring the Value of Cross-Sector Secondments

Jaswant Kaur Narwal, Barrister and Chief Crown Prosecutor, has over 33 years’ experience in the Criminal Justice System having been with the CPS since 1989.

Jaswant holds a wealth of experience acquired through a rich career to-date, shaped by a desire to achieve real, systemic impact, keep diversity and inclusion on the agenda and make a positive contribution through her work. She began her career in London after successfully winning a scholarship with CPS and has worked up through the ranks in this role to become one of the most senior prosecutors in the country, operating as one of only 14 Chief Crown Prosecutors.

 Having held a mixture of national and regional roles, she now runs the CPS in the Thames and Chiltern area, with various legal, executive, operational and political responsibilities, including leading a team of over 300 staff. Effectively operating as both a senior prosecutor and a senior civil servant, Jaswant’s responsibilities include dealing with serious, high-profile cases, necessitating exposure to the media, and managing public expectations. She regularly engages with a wide range of stakeholders, from victims of crime, pressure groups and charities to senior civil servants, Members of Parliament, Chief Constables, senior judiciary and elected Police and Crime Commissioners. She has also worked with and learned from her peers in other jurisdictions, taking inspiration from Scotland’s success with youth crime and working with French authorities to prevent cross-border financial and organised crime, and with the Americans by developing a US/UK FGM Law Enforcement Proclamation. She has a particular focus on race, diversity and inclusion issues; acting as the CPS’s national lead for ‘honour’- based abuse, female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage. Conscious of her position as one of few senior ethnic minority figures in her field, she has influenced and made organisational as well as wider progress on race and diversity, such as by launching a CPS Sikh Society and building relationships with the Society of Asian Lawyers, as well as in a personal capacity through acting as a Patron of the True Honour charity and a Mentor for ethnic minority managers from the public and private sectors. She has also worked closely with the CPS/Bar to bring changes and improve diversity to CPS briefing policies.

She was appointed a Commissioner on a National Domestic and Sexual Violence Commission chaired by Baroness Armstrong the findings of which were published in a 2019 report ‘Breaking Down Barriers’.

She is also a qualified executive coach, workplace mediator and mentor. She has coached/mentored a range of different people including university students, young lawyers as well as BAME public and private sector managers through Business in The Community and champions fairness and equality throughout all her work, She undertook a 6 month secondment with Oxfam as a Senior Equality and Gender Justice Advisor last year. She has recently been appointed as a FA National Serious Case Panel Chair for grassroots football.

As the only current Asian female Chief Crown Prosecutor she brings an often underrepresented or unheard perspective, which has been especially valuable in powerfully pushing forward women and race inequality issues.

Paul Lincoln is the Second Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence (MOD). He was appointed in May 2023.

As Second Permanent Secretary, his responsibilities include digital transformation across Defence, security and resilience (including cyber security), space policy, science and technology, safety, Defence strategy, net assessment and challenge, trade and economic security, and strategic relationships with industry.

Paul’s career has covered a broad range of roles in the MOD, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office. Prior to his return to the MOD, Paul spent time on secondment to the private sector.

From 2017 to 2021 he was Director General of UK Border Force in the Home Office, with responsibility for protecting border security and overseeing immigration and customs checks. During this time, he successfully led one of the largest law enforcement organisations in the UK, delivering generational improvements to passenger processing and, with a real focus on preparations for Brexit, oversaw one of the largest and most complex EU exit programmes in government. He also led on the cross-government health measures at the border at the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Other senior roles at the Home Office included Director General of the Crime, Policing and Fire Group, and Acting Director General of the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism.

His roles at the MOD have covered oversight for a range of operational campaigns, defence resourcing, programmes, and security policy.

Alex Vaughan was appointed CEO in May 2019. Prior to this he was managing director of the Natural Resources division with responsibility for Costain’s services to water, oil and gas and power clients as well as the development of client facing technology solutions across the Group. He held this position from 2013. Alex is qualified as a chartered quantity surveyor. He has worked on infrastructure projects in the UK and internationally, as well as having held a number of corporate roles including Group HR director and corporate development director. In 2009 he completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP). Alex was chair of the CBI regional council from 2019-2021.