Suzelle Dickson, Joint Head of Unit, Joint Home Office/Foreign Office Forced Marriage Unit

Suzelle Dickson joined the Home Office in 2000 and worked in various roles relating to policing policy, including leadership and the appointment of senior officers.

In 2004, she took up a post as a policy adviser in the Domestic Violence Team, where her responsibilities included the development and roll out local policy on domestic violence, implementing sections of the legislation under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, advising on European initiatives to address domestic violence and coordinating work to develop a work program to tackle forced marriage, so-called honor based violence and female genital mutilation.

In November 2008, Suzelle took up her current post as joint Head of Unit in the joint Home Office/Foreign Office Forced Marriage Unit. The Unit is known as the Government's one stop shop for developing policy on forced marriage, undertaking outreach and training and providing support to victims and practitioners through it's casework. The Unit operates both inside the UK, where support is provided to any individual and overseas where consular assistance is provided to British nationals and similarly works with UK Border Agency to provide support to victims with immigration related issues. Suzelle leads on work with the UK Border Agency and general issues around violence against women and girls. She was responsible for developing the national e-learning training package on forced marriage for frontline practitioners recently been launched online and will be leading the review of the implementation of the statutory guidance on forced marriage.