The New Year’s Honours 2023 – Police, Fire and Ambulance Service

King’s Police Medal 

• Chief Superintendent Sean Scott, Police Scotland
• Chief Superintendent Sharon Milton, Police Scotland
• Deputy Chief Constable Will Kerr, Police Scotland

King’s Fire Service Medal  

• Watch Commander Alan Aitken, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service
• Volunteer Leader Robert Strang, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

King’s Ambulance Service Medal 

• Wendy Bathgate, Scottish Ambulance Service

KING’S POLICE MEDAL 

Chief Superintendent Sean Scott 

Chief Superintendent Sean Scott joined Lothian and Borders Police in July 1990 and transferred into Police Scotland in 2013. As the divisional commander of Edinburgh, he manages several important partnerships, providing policing services to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Scottish Parliament and major events including the Hogmanay celebrations. 

Early in his career, he led the first proactive teams in Lothian and Borders Police and was responsible for overseeing large scale drugs operations. He was involved in major and complex investigations into suspected terrorism and serious and organised crime in Scotland, and was the wildlife crime national lead in the Specialist Crime Division.  

Chief Superintendent Scott was selected to lead the establishment of the Police Scotland Counter Corruption Unit and the first Public Sector Corruption Unit. He recently represented Police Scotland internationally, sharing his experience with senior policing leaders from the United States.  

Chief Superintendent Sharon Milton   

Chief Superintendent Sharon Milton joined Avon and Somerset Police in August 1994 before transferring to Grampian Police in February 1997, spending the remainder of her career in Scotland.  

The majority of Chief Superintendent Milton’s highly regarded service has been in the north-east, where she has undertaken several senior roles, notably as the first female Divisional Commander of Moray, before playing an important part in the establishment of the Aberdeen Division within Police Scotland.  

Chief Superintendent Milton was appointed as the Divisional Commander within Events, Emergency and Resilience Planning in 2015, although she was temporarily seconded to the planning team for COP26 to lead on the police protective security arrangements, which included the safety and security of over 120 world leaders. 

Deputy Chief Constable Will Kerr OBE 

Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) Will Kerr has 33 years of public service across the UK. He spent more than 27 years in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, where he held several command-level posts, including Assistant Chief Constable Belfast and Assistant Chief Constable Crime and Operations.

He joined the National Crime Agency in 2017 where, as Director, he was the national lead for co-ordinating the UK’s domestic and international response to child sexual abuse and exploitation, modern slavery, human trafficking and organised immigration crime. In 2015, he was awarded an OBE for services to policing and the community in Northern Ireland. 

DCC Kerr joined Police Scotland in 2018 as Deputy Chief Constable for Local Policing. He led five Assistant Chief Constables covering 13 local divisions, as well as national functions for Criminal Justice and Partnership, Prevention and Community Wellbeing. In September 2022 he was named preferred candidate for appointment as Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police and took up the post on Thursday 29 December, 2022. 

KING’S FIRE SERVICE MEDAL   

Watch Commander Alan Aitken 

Alan Aitken participated in the search and rescue operation after the Lockerbie air disaster as an on-call firefighter at Douglas Fire Station. He was later promoted to the role of Leading Firefighter, then Sub Officer and then Watch Commander. Currently, he is a Support Watch Commander at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. 

He supports on-call firefighters by sharing his experience to ensure a consistent quality of service throughout the rural areas of Lanarkshire. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, he supported vulnerable individuals by working with community groups and charities to support those facing social and economic challenges. He collaborated with local businesses on the distribution of kindness packs and helped a local charity to deliver essential medicine and supplies. He is a representative for The Fire Fighters Charity. 

Volunteer Leader Robert Strang 

Robert Strang joined Carradale Community Fire Station in July 1987 as a volunteer firefighter and became a volunteer leader in 1996. An advocate of improving processes, he focuses on ways to increase efficiency and how policies affect on-call volunteer firefighters.  

He's a supporter of expanding the deployment of volunteer firefighters and was instrumental in the Volunteer Improvement Programme which has changed the way volunteers across Argyll and Bute are deployed to emergency incidents.  

He has transformed Carradale into a fire station that protects the local community and proactively supports charitable causes.  Under his leadership, Carradale volunteers have raised over £50,000 for national and local charities, and he is a supporter of The Fire Fighters Charity. 

KING’S AMBULANCE SERVICE MEDAL 

Wendy Bathgate, Information Governance Officer and Trustee of the Benevolent Fund 

Throughout her 35 years’ service, Wendy Bathgate has gone above and beyond her remit to assist others while delivering her own work to the highest of standards.   

In 1995, she became a founding Trustee of the Scottish Ambulance Service Benevolent Fund, established to help staff members in hardship. She remains a Trustee and has held the positions of Treasurer and Secretary. Over the past three years, she has been the point of co-ordination for the Advanced Practice Team, a key part of the response to COVID-19, and the development of a remote consultation service.  

Background 

Nominations are made by Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Scottish Ambulance Service through their own internal nomination processes. The Scottish Government facilitates a panel to consider and agree which nominations are advanced.