Katherine Richardson

Biography

Katherine joined the GLA from the Civil Service where she spent 18 years in a number of departments including the Home Office, Cabinet Office and Ministry of Justice. Her roles included Private Secretary to the Security Minister, Head of the Northern Powerhouse for the Department for International Trade and Head of Counter-Terrorism for the Foreign Office in Kabul.

In 2017, Katherine joined the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, where she led the Resilience and Emergencies Division through many incidents including the Manchester Arena bombing, terror attacks in London Bridge, Borough and Westminster, the Grenfell Tower fire and Novichok attack in Salisbury.

At the GLA, Katherine is committed to using her background in resilience, security and crisis management to strengthen London’s preparedness for and ability to withstand acute emergencies and chronic stresses as well as work towards a London able to anticipate, respond to and recover from emergencies effectively and equitably through strong, diverse partnerships and continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

Leading the London Resilience Unit, including:

• Strategy, long term, prevention and community resilience
• Partnerships, governance and assurance
• Risk, planning assumptions, exercising and learning
• Response capabilities, training and readiness
• Situational awareness, intelligence and analysis including the London Situational Awareness Team (LSAT)
• Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network.