Recruitment — Compliance / Standards Assurance: G. Mapp

[People & Places]

Curriculum Vitae — Gerald Mapp

Date of birth: 30 September 1962
Based: Chelmsford, mid-Essex
Memberships: ICSA (Chartered Secretary); Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors

Personal statement

A mid-Essex man and a meticulous compliance, assurance and governance professional, with more
than a quarter-century of unblemished service given almost entirely to the county's public
bodies. My guiding principle is straightforward: rules exist to be followed, and
it is my job to see that they are — precisely, and to the letter. I hold no opinion on the merits
of a policy; I hold a very firm opinion on adherence to it. I have never had a finding raised
against me, and I have closed a great many raised against others.

Qualifications

• ICSA — Chartered Secretary (governance).
• Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors — Member.
• Lead Auditor, ISO 9001 and ISO 27001.
• Diploma in Regulatory Compliance.

Career history

• 2006–present — Chelmer Valley Water (Chelmsford) — Head of Compliance & Standards Assurance. Owner of the policy framework, audit schedule and records-management regime; chaired the Standards Assurance Board.
• 2000–2006 — Wid Vale Housing Association (Chelmsford) — Internal Governance Manager. Policy adherence, statutory returns and audit liaison; reduced open audit findings to nil for four consecutive years.
• 1994–2000 — St Aldhelm's NHS Trust (Broomfield, Chelmsford) — Compliance Officer, then Senior Compliance Officer. Information governance, records retention and standards conformance.
• 1988–1994 — Havering Borough Council — Internal Auditor. Financial and process audit; procedure documentation and control testing.
• 1984–1988 — trainee accountant / audit clerk — various firms in Chelmsford and Braintree.

Approach

Documented processes, followed exactly and evidenced fully. If it is not written down, it did not
happen; if it is written down and countersigned, it is not my concern whether it should have been.

[J. Fairhead (People & Places)]

Correct, precise and entirely humourless — every answer he gave cited a policy or a clause. An impeccable record: not a single finding raised against him in twenty-eight years. Recommend.

[S. Pardoe (People & Places)]

For the record, and I want to be clear: he is not a yes-man, he is the reverse. He will hold us to every rule to the letter. My worry is that a man that rigid might one day ask whether the programme itself is within the regulations.

[D. Pike]

On the contrary — that is precisely why he is right for it. A man like Mapp never asks whether a thing is right; he asks only whether it was done in accordance with the approved procedure. Give him a procedure and he will defend the atrocity to the Ombudsman with a clear conscience, provided every form was countersigned. We do not need judgement on this desk. We need a checklist with a pension.

[M. Ross (Personnel Security)]

A stickler is a gift. He will see every action impeccably documented and every box ticked — audit-proof. And a man who worships the rulebook never once thinks to ask who wrote it.

[G. Naismith (People & Places)]

Appointed to Compliance / Standards Assurance. Give him the procedures. Never, ever let him see the objectives.