Annette Henley is a Chartered Engineer and Chartered Manager working as Lead Engineer on the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme in the Home Office.
She is currently leading on the development of airborne mobile communications services as part of the role out of the ESN (Emergency Services Network) and the development of the technical fit of ESN for emergency services aircraft.She originally joined the Civil Service as a graduate trainee engineer in September 1990 at the Radiocommunications Agency (forerunner of Ofcom) and has recently received a Civil Service long service award. In the early part of her career she was responsible for the spectrum management of mobile radio services for private business applications and was responsible for the architecture of the regulatory structure that has allowed the development of licence free use of WiFi.She has been working on emergency services communications since October 2005 and is really passionate about the opportunity to design technology that really matters.
Her involvement in mental health, staff wellbeing and welfare stems from personal experience in 2012. She is the chair of the Home Office London Mental Health buddy group, a founder member of Break the Stigma at 2 Marsham Street and a Mental Health First Aider. She also chairs the Home Office Big White Wall steering group. Introducing Big White Wall as a staff support across the Home Office was her original idea.