Radical Reformers podcast: Recent Episodes
Radical Reformers podcast
?This is a great conversation and a brilliant listen for anyone wanting to build their knowledge about relational public services, place-based reform, and how we create the conditions for public servants to learn, adapt and do their best work.
As Andy Burnham prepares to become Prime Minister, there is growing interest in what “Manchesterism” might mean for the country. The term has already come to encompass a wide range of ideas: collective self-belief; collaboration across boundaries; devolution and subsidiarity; greater social justice; and good growth rooted in people and place. In the latest episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew Laird speaks to Eve Holt, Head of Policy and Implementation at Greater Manchester Combined Authority, about the ideas, culture and confidence behind Greater Manchester’s devolution journey.Eve talks about what makes Greater Manchester distinctive: the “ten plus one” model, the long history of collaboration across councils and partners, the role of communities and the voluntary sector, and the importance of connecting policy with implementation from the get-go.We hear a few of our pals name-dropped along the way too, including Prof. Donna Hall, Scott Darraugh and Rachel Law, as part of a wider conversation about the people, places and ideas that have helped shape this way of working.This is a great listen for anyone thinking about devolution, place leadership, public service reform or what it really takes to move from ambition to action.
brings together the Council, the MOD, central government, Babcock, other local businesses and other partners around a shared mission.This episode offers a powerful lesson for place leaders - councils do not need to do everything themselves, but they do need to convene, connect and create the conditions for others to act.
In the latest episode of the Radical Reformers podcast, Andrew Laird sits down with Joe Hill, Director of Strategy at Restate (and the winner of last year’s Think Tanker of the Year award!), for a timely and thought-provoking conversation about the importance of really bold public service reform ideas.From his journey through the civil service and Treasury to his work shaping some of the most influential policy thinking in Westminster, Joe offers a fascinating perspective on how change really happens. At the heart of the episode is his powerful critique of “everythingism” - the idea that every policy should try to deliver every objective, everywhere, all at once. A problem many people working in public services will instantly recognise: blurred priorities, diluted focus and policy that tries to do too much.This episode is about the importance of new ideas, the role of think tanks in shifting debate, and why real reform depends on people being willing to say the uncomfortable thing out loud.Above all, it’s a compelling call to be courageous - to think clearly, write honestly, challenge consensus and push for something better.If you care about public service reform, policy innovation and the future of government, head here to listen
In the latest episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew Laird welcomes Nick Kimber, Director of Public Service Reform in Cabinet Office and the lead for the Test, Learn and Grow (TLG) Programme. We all know the huge pressures public services currently face - and in this conversation we’re reminded that fast experimentation and learning can be more powerful than writing the perfect business plan.Nick and Andrew also discuss:- What the TLG programme is - and isn’t (spoiler it's not a digital change programme!)- How starting small and testing in the real world can build evidence and confidence through iterative learning rather than long, linear, pre-determined pilots.- The importance of working across departmental and organisational boundaries at all levels to close the gap between policy intent and achieving real change.They finish with a call to action. The TLG programme, the Changing Futures programme, the place-based budget pilots will only have succeeded if they are catalysts for a broader and sustainable movement If you’re trying to deliver change in complex systems, this episode is one for you.
- because the difference isn’t always one dramatic leap, it’s often the accumulation of changes made every single day.Real change rarely arrives with a quick, big announcement. More often, it’s built quietly through long-term thinking, shared endeavour, and the discipline to keep going.
In our latest episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew Laird is joined by Andy Ferrier, Chief Executive of Test Valley Borough Council, for a thoughtful and practical conversation about how public service reform, neighbourhood working and democratic renewal can come together.At Mutual Ventures we talk about Radical Place Leadership - Andy is definitely a Radical place Leader!In this episode, they discuss: - Why many people feel alienated from traditional democratic processes and what can be done about it.- How citizens’ assemblies and deliberative approaches can support better‑informed political decision‑making. - The transformative, once-in-a-generation opportunity of LGR. - Why culture, behaviours and leadership matter just as much as governance and committees.- How neighbourhood approaches could support prevention, stronger connection to communities and better children’s and adults’ services.Andy is refreshingly honest about the limits of traditional models and optimistic about working together. The most important aspect for him, he says, is working with communities, elected members and partners to think about how they develop together as a collective enterprise.If you’re thinking about empower in communities, Local Government Reorganisation, Pride in Place, the future of democratic leadership or public service reform more generally, this episode is for you.
This week Andrew Laird welcomes Dez Holmes, Director of Research in Practice and Strategic Director for Practice and Programmes at the National Children’s Bureau.They discuss the role public services can play in making growing up great again! and why so many of our systems struggle at the point young people turn 18.Dez challenges the myth of a neat shift from ‘child’ to ‘adult’ and notes that for many people adulthood arrives earlier (caring responsibilities, adversity) or later (new responsibilities, work, family), but our systems often behave as if it happens at the same fixed point for everyone.Complex problems don’t respond well to linear plans which pretend we can predict outcomes upfront. Andrew and Dez explore what it looks like to test a hypothesis, adapt in the light of evidence, and create the safety to learn.Above all, in this episode Dez reminds us that frustration with the system should never overpower hope and we must always ask ourselves: “what impact is this having in people’s lives?” and not just “what have we delivered against the plan”?
In the latest episode of the Radical Reformers podcast, Andrew Laird is joined by Zina Etheridge, recently appointed Chief Executive of Buckinghamshire Council, to explore to explore her relatively unique experience of leading in central government, in a council and in the NHS.Zina highlights that place matters more than ever, and the conversation centres on a powerful idea we truly believe in here at Mutual Ventures: councils should be much more than service providers. At their best, they are place-makers and conveners, uniquely placed to bring partners, communities and systems together to help communities thrive and succeed.Zina reflects candidly on the distinct pressures that are on senior leaders in different parts of the public sector, the challenges of reforming complex systems, and why bravery is required to shift resources and power in meaningful ways, even when short-term performance risks feel uncomfortable.Genuine community empowerment can’t be imposed from the centre or done in a one‑size‑fits‑all way. It depends on local context, trust, lived experience and the confidence to share power.If you’re working in local government, the NHS or the wider public sector, or thinking about the future of place-based leadership, this is a thoughtful and timely listen.
NES, including neighbourhood working, community-led approaches, relational budgeting and partnership models that grew out of the pandemic. Becca and Simon also grapple honestly with the tensions and challenges: inspections, budgets, evidence, and how to make relational change stick beyond individual leaders.Above all, this episode makes the case that relational practice is not a “nice to have”, but a practical, intuitive and increasingly necessary response to rising demand and tightening budgets. As Becca says, “honest and compassionate relationships have to be the first priority on which everything else is built”.
In this week’s Radical Reformers, Andrew welcomes two exceptional local government finance leaders, Rob Powell, Executive Director for Resources, Warwickshire County Council and Nina Philippidis, Executive Director of Resources and Deputy Chief Executive, Gloucestershire County Council.Local government finance is facing pressures unlike anything we’ve seen before - but with the right leadership, there are also opportunities to reimagine how local government functions and the role it plays. Nina and Rob share powerful insights about what its really like to lead and make tough decision in local government against a backdrop of frequently changing policy and ever tightening budgets.Here’s a taste of what they cover:- Multi-year settlements: Do they truly change how councils plan or is the ultimate impact more limited?- Thinking beyond the organisation: Why leading for a place rather than for a council is essential.- Investing to save: How finance directors balance short-term pressures with the long-term need for prevention and innovation.- Local Government Reorganisation: The big opportunities ahead - from simplifying structures to tackling deep-rooted challenges like health inequality and long-term worklessness.- Leadership and careers: How local government finance is far more inspiring and impactful than people realise!This conversation is packed with honesty, practical wisdom, and forward-thinking optimism about the future of public services.
All the buzz is about relational public services – and rightly so. In this week’s Radical Reformers, we welcome not one, but two experts in the subject, Professor Hannah Hesselgreaves and Professor Chris Fox from the Policy Evaluation Research Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University.They explore the role academia plays in the development of public service reform and public policy, and how it should play a deeper, more relational role in public service reform, far beyond traditional evaluation.A key theme is the value of involving academics early on as learning partners who help test assumptions, shape interventions, and co create knowledge alongside practitioners and people with lived experience.This episode coincides with the publication of a research paper on “Policy Priorities to Support Relational Public Services”. You can access the full report here - https://mmuperu.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/429/2025/12/Relational-Public-Services-Policy.pdfHannah and Chris are leading lights in relational public services, and this episode is for anyone working in public service reform, systems change or place-based leadership.
and then distributing power and resources as widely as possible. As we have discussed before on Radical Reformers, the relationship with communities changes when we move from “This is what we can do for you” to “This is what we can do together.”
In the latest Radical Reformers episode, Andrew Laird welcomes Des Murray, Chief Executive of North Lanarkshire Council and Chair of Solace Scotland. Des shares his personal journey from growing up in Lanarkshire to leading the council in his hometown, highlighting the power of local roots and the value of a generalist perspective in leadership.He explains how North Lanarkshire’s “one plan” approach integrates housing, economy, infrastructure, and digital strategy to deliver real change for communities. The council’s success, he argues, comes from aligning all partners behind a shared vision and focusing on outcomes that improve lives, not just statistics.Des emphasises a need to steer away from our obsession with immediacy and that meaningful change comes from long term vision, tough decisions and the bravery to address bias in all its forms to achieve the best for the people that need it most.It’s a powerful reminder that visionary leadership, local knowledge and honest conversations are essential for public service reform.
Across the UK, adult social care is in crisis.This episode of the #RadicalReformers podcast brings you a rare social care success story.Rachel Law and Gemma Murphy are two of the all-female leadership team at PossAbilities CIC, an adult social care social enterprise based in the Northwest of England.With a team of 800 operating across multiple council areas, PossAbilities is bucking the trend. Rachel, Gemma and the team not only deliver outstanding services but consistently achieve financial sustainability which enables further investment to support the community they care for.In this episode, Andrew Laird explores the source of this success, including a small, innovative and courageous executive team, a very thin middle management layer, not constantly assessing people and diversification into areas like building their own residential care accommodation. It really is #RadicalPlaceLeadership #RelationalWorking in action.The PossAbilities team recently had a visit from Baroness Casey’s commission team - and we learn about what they are exploring in that important work.This is an inspiring conversation and there are lessons to be learned for all public services. Could it be that the resources public services need are there – they’re just not focused on the right things..?
This week on Radical Reformers, Andrew talked to Adrian Brown, Chief Executive of the Windfall Trust, to explore how artificial intelligence will continue to reshape public services.Adrian provides us with a grounding in AI and how it will inevitably touch every aspect of our lives. Most of the discussion is focused on the awesome opportunities and worrying risks that AI poses for public services. While AI might help us navigate complexity, understand data and speed up services, we must not lose sight of what it means to be human and the importance of building genuine relationships. The pace of change is rapid, and public services must adapt quickly to keep up. Those working in public services are currently faced with the huge challenge of weighing up risk versus reward in an environment where AI is evolving at breakneck speed (even in the time it has taken you to read this!). Can we risk having essential public services reliant on a technology we don't fully understand... can we afford not to? If there was ever an episode to spark debate among your peers, then this is it!
In the latest episode of #RadicalReformers, Andrew Laird talks to Helen Bailey, Chief Executive of Sutton Council. Helen brings the rare experience of senior roles in both central government and local government and her perspective on the ‘bridge’ between central policy and local delivery is invaluable.It’s an extremely timely discussion with the renewed interest in the concept of ‘Total Place’, as Helen was in the Treasury when Total Place was first explored. She encourages local leaders to see themselves as conveners of place, not just statutory service providers and urges us all to challenge current solutions and the material difference they’re making.Helen also reminds us that mistakes are inevitable in public service delivery and that leaders must remain curious and brave enough to try and learn from new things.We love Helen’s optimism and hope you’re as inspired as we are to “Look for the gaps, look for the cracks, look for the opportunities. Ask questions about the solutions that you’re presented with that don’t seem to work”.
This week’s Radical Reformers guest is relational working pioneer, Helen Sanderson, known to us as a leading thinker, researcher and doer on person-centred working.Helen talks about her work setting up Wellbeing Teams in places like Wigan and Thurrock and discusses her ongoing work with the Changing Futures Northumbria team, playing a pivotal role spreading the learning from the great work being done there.This episode includes some very practical examples of what it takes to make person-centred support real. Spoiler alert – it takes a lot of commitment, a lot of effort and the bravery to “work out loud and share what you’re learning as you do it”.As with all great minds, Helen flips the script and considers how we change the “what is the matter with you” conversation to “what matters to you”, to deliver services that make a real difference to people’s lives.The episode is peppered with the names of some fellow radical reform rebels, so we’d be remiss not to mention them: Hilary Cottam, Mark Smith, Donna Hall and last week’s guest, Gary Wallace.
Radical Reformers is back! Listen in to Andrew Laird’s insightful conversation with relational working legend Gary Wallace, a public health specialist from Plymouth City Council.In this episode, Gary comprehensively debunks New Public Management, highlighting its weaknesses and championing relational working. He shares his expertise on systems thinking, human learning systems, and the importance of creating a healthy system where all the bits of the system work together to support people.Gary's approach to relational working is a masterclass in itself, offering valuable insights for public-facing practitioners, commissioners, and leaders.Gary talks about making impactful change and continuous learning throughout this episode. Trying to make big changes can be daunting and seemingly impossible - so we thought it was really powerful when Gary said “Even if you can't change the way your service works, you can change the way you work as an individual.” And that’s where all great change starts really, isn’t it?
In the latest episode of Radical Reformers, I am joined by renowned public service innovator and author, Hilary Cottam.Hilary has just published her hotly anticipated follow up to Radical Help, entitled “The Work We Need”. It is an inspiring read and I get the opportunity to delve into the main themes with Hilary.Hilary highlights the increasing challenge of economic inactivity and unfulfilling jobs and discusses the importance of “place” and the social fabric created by local institutions great and small, formal and informal. We discuss the critical role central government, Mayoral Combined Authorities and councils have in “tilting the playing field” to create the conditions for good work. Lifelong learning is a key theme of the book and Hilary explains what this means. It’s not about getting a piece of paper with a qualification. It’s about fulfilment, challenge and self-development. We also spend time talking about the potential of the “modern mutual” and the renewed interest from government in this form of organisation, which has proven very successful in many industries including public services. Radical Help is a firm favourite in the Mutual Ventures office and our copies of The Work We Need are already in hot demand. We hope you enjoy the episode!You can get your copy of Hilary’s new book here: https://geni.us/TheWorkWeNeed
This is Episode #100 of the #RadicalReformers podcast! We wanted to take the opportunity to thank all the guests who have taken the time to contribute their time and knowledge and the listeners who have given up their own time and continued to support the podcast since the first episode back in 2020. We have had guests from central government, local government, the third sector, Mayoral Combined Authorities and the NHS, all brimming with energy and ideas for improving public services. It’s been a great journey and we hope you have enjoyed it and learned as much as we have. So back to this episode! This is part 2 of a public service reform double bill. The first one was on “relational practice” and if you missed it you can catch up in the usual places. This one revolves around a report that the Mutual Ventures team developed in partnership with Re:State think tank on behalf of the LGA entitled “Trusting Place”. As the name suggests, this is all about place working, public service collaboration at a local level, and connection between public services and citizens. As part of this work, we ran a series of workshops and spoke to a lot of public service leaders and thinkers and produced a set of recommendations for the LGA to consider in terms of what their future views might be around place-working. This report has now been published (Link below) and we are fortunate to have the chance to discuss it on this episode with Eve Roodhouse from the LGA and two of the report’s authors Simon Kay from Re:State and MV Non-Exec Director Professor Donna Hall.https://www.mutualventures.co.uk/post/our-report-to-the-lga-trusting-place-improving-the-lives-of-local-people-through-place-based-appr
The next two episodes of the #RadicalReformers podcast will be a bit different (and hopefully a treat for the public service reform nerds out there!). They will focus on “Relational practice” and “Place working”.A couple of weeks ago, Andrew spent time with the leading relational practice experts from the UK and further afield at the PERU “Towards Relational Public services” conference in Manchester and recorded snippets with some of the keynote speakers and attendees. Relational practice is fast becoming the foundational element of all sensible public service reform thinking and in this episode you will hear from the best in the field including Rob Wilson, Kathy Evans, Emma Lord, Ron Charlton, Toby Lowe and Wendy Lansdown. The second public service reform special will focus on “Place working” and will unpack the findings of an LGA report the Mutual Ventures team and Re:State were commissioned to produce. Andrew will be joined by Dr Simon Kaye Prof Donna Hall and the LGA's Eve Roodhouse. Keep an eye out for this in a couple of weeks. The team Mutual Ventures believe relational practice and place working are two sides of the same coin and essential if we are to shift towards prevention, reduce demand/cost across the system and re-establish trust between public services and communities. The good news is real progress is being made on the policy front. Throughout both episodes, we reference the “test, learn and grow” principles produced by the Cabinet Office, the Spending Review policy announcement on “Community Help Partnerships” and the recent Public Service Reform Strategy from the Scottish Government.Relational practice and place working feature heavily in the Radical Place Leadership work the MV team have been doing in areas such as South Ayrshire, North East Lincolnshire and Brent and also forms a big part of the reform support we are providing as part of the local government reform process. Enjoy it!
In this latest episode of Radical Reformers, Bas Sadiq, the Chief Executive of the Homerton Healthcare Foundation Trust and the place-based leader for City and Hackney, joins Andrew Laird and shares her incredible journey from an outpatient receptionist to leading one of the most iconic hospitals in London.Bas discusses the unique role of The Homerton as a community anchor and gives us an insight into her leadership approach, which is firmly rooted in relationship-building. Logistics and structures never trump relationships!We learn about the importance of the innovative neighbourhood teams which are transforming healthcare delivery in Hackney and the City of London. It is inspiring to hear from an Acute Trust Chief Executive who genuinely sees the bigger picture and understands that the “left shift” towards prevention will require hospitals to cede power to local partners and communities.If you’re excited by the potential of neighbourhood health and are determined that it doesn’t become a big organisation serving box-ticking exercise, then this is one for you!Enjoy it!
In this week’s episode Radical Reformers, we welcome back a duo we’ve had on the podcast before - Scott Darraugh from Social Adventures and Sophie Clarke from We Are Juno.It’s a rich conversation that touches on topics we’ve been thinking about a lot here at Mutual Ventures, specifically around the challenges in children’s residential care:- The difficulty of finding suitable local placements so young people are close to their families and communities. - The need for a renewed focus on relationships and creating safe, trusting and inspiring environments for young people.- The role of Regional Care Cooperatives and the need for local authorities and organisations to work together to fix the challenges facing the children’s social care system.This conversation also contains a strong message about ensuring all children and young people are not only kept safe - but have a “dare to dream” plan and the opportunity to find their “glimmer”. It’s very inspiring stuff. Enjoy it.
In this new episode of #RadicalReformers, I chat with Kath O'Dwyer, former Chief Executive of St Helens Council and Chair of SOLACE. During her tenure at St Helens, Kath led the council through significant challenges, including a poor corporate culture, the COVID-19 pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, and a ransomware cyber attack. Despite these hurdles, she successfully transformed the organisation, leading to a very positive corporate peer challenge this year. Kath describes herself as a “fix it” Chief Exec and she explains why it’s so important to recognise what sort of leader you are and what environment you are likely to thrive in. Trust and honesty are central to Kath's success and she explains the “kindness” of making tough decisions. Kath also emphasises the importance of collaboration across local authority boundaries and the benefits of St Helens being part of the Liverpool City Region and the positive impact of regional programs and investments on local communities. Enjoy it!
In this latest episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew Laird is joined by Caroline Simpson, Chief Executive of Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Transport for Greater Manchester and the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. Greater Manchester became the first new Mayoral Combined authorities in 2014 and in this conversation, Caroline has a refreshing approach to leadership and shares how she navigates the incredibly complex but rewarding Greater Manchester environment. What’s clear from this conversation is Greater Manchester thrives on strong relationships built on trust and transparency, and not being afraid to have difficult conversations. This solid foundation of trust and knowledge of the place makes room for balanced risk and makes Manchester the perfect place for a test and learn approach.If you take just one thing away from this episode, we hope it’s inspiration from the boundless energy that Caroline embodies as a leader. Times are certainly tough for public services – but all great change starts with the belief that it can be done and as Caroline says, going "All in"!
In the new episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew Laird welcomes Graeme Duncan, Chief Executive of Right to Succeed, a charity that supports communities in areas of high deprivation to work collectively and give children and young people the best start in life.In this discussion, Graeme and Andrew discuss the transformative power of building community agency. Graeme notes that the biggest challenge facing our communities isn't just the individual issues like poverty, education, or health - but the lack of control people have in defining their own needs and solutions. True change comes from a collective approach, where everyone works together, rather than top-down or bottom-up methods.Graeme offers insights into how Right to Succeed engages with different levels of administration, from individual councils to the Liverpool City Region and how this approach has led to significant savings and better outcomes for communities.Allowing communities to take ownership, builds trust and collaborative solutions that are hard to beat. As Graeme says, if a community chooses an intervention – they will make it succeed.
In this new episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew Laird chats to Graham Farrant, Chief Executive of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council.It’s a particularly relevant episode for those going through the current local government reorganisation (LGR) process. Back in 2018, Graham was the inaugural Chief Executive of the newly formed BCP Council and this episode is packed with lessons and insight from his experience of leading a brand new council. He describes the challenges of the LGR process, the complexities of merging councils and the programme management that’s crucial to do it successfully. It’s a must-listen for those who have recently submitted initial LGR proposals.Graham is also renowned for bringing business acumen to his various public sector roles. He shares his insights on:- Budgets and the importance of forecasting and recognising likely overspend.- The importance of viewing risk management as an integral part of every role – not a separate function.- The potential financial benefits of public sector funded commercial activities.
This week, Andrew Laird is joined by Kate Josephs, Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council. Kate is a former Senior Civil Servant in Whitehall who has transitioned to local government in a City just around the corner from where she grew up. Sheffield is a city (with three-party political leadership) which has developed an ambitious set of City Goals through community collaboration, focusing on shared ownership and improving public services.The episode touches on the need for flexibility and adaptability in public service delivery, the power of optimistic leadership and the emerging role of council Chief Executives as conveyors of “place”.The conversation also highlights the financial and outcomes folly of delivering public services in silos. Better collaboration and the removal of duplication and the need for people to repeatedly tell their story not only improves efficiency, but more importantly can break people and families out of a downward spiral.Enjoy it!NB - this episode was recorded before the Government announced it was abolishing NHS England.
We've extended our International Women’s Day celebrations here at MV. Inspired by our recent report and webinar, we have produced a special episode of the #RadicalReformers podcast. Since its launch, from the very first episode with Sophie Humphreys to the very latest episode with Louisa Mitchell, 60% of the guests on the podcast have been women. This is not a contrived thing, it is just where a lot of the leadership talent is! In this episode, @Andrew Laird introduces six clips from the archive with Theresa Leavy, Arianna Giovannini, Fatima Khan Shah, Sam Plum, Prof. Donna Hall and Naomi Hulston. A very wide range of topics are covered including, leaning into challenges, championing diversity, the relationship between employers and employees, the right power to devolve to local areas, local government reorganisation and the birth of the “Wigan Deal”.Enjoy it #AccelerateNow #Internationalwomensday #IWD25
In this episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew Laird is joined by Louisa Mitchell MBE, Chief Executive of All Child, an organisation dedicated to supporting communities in underserved neighbourhoods across the UK to help children and young people flourish.All child has a crystal-clear purpose and methodology. They identify children who need support, they develop a trusted relationship with the child and the family, and they align public services around the child. Louisa and her team have achieved amazing results. In the eight years of their existence, they have worked with nearly 6000 children and 2/3 of those children are no longer at risk in their social and emotional health and around 60% have improved their school grades. Louisa also talks about the benefit of outcomes contracts and how they make space for trusted relationships and support that’s tailored to individuals. This type of commissioning gives providers power and permission to do whatever it takes to help, rather than ticking activity boxes. This episode majors on something we come back to time and time again on Radical Reformers – the transformative power of relationships and trust. It’s also a rallying cry to anyone thinking of making the jump into public services, as Louisa started her career in finance, before moving to policy research writing – until she decided, in her words “enough writing, time for some action”
In our latest episode of Radical Reformers, I am joined by Kim Wright, Chief Executive of Brent Council.In London, 1 in 23 children are homeless… think about that for a moment…that’s one in every classroom.Tackling an issue like this requires a new, more radical way of getting public services to work together. The New Public Management approach of constantly assessing and passing vulnerable people and families from one siloed service to another will not cut it. Kim and I discuss the “Radical Place Leadership” work Mutual Ventures have been doing with Brent, which emphasises the importance of putting the person and family first and creating the permission and space for public servants to really understand the core challenges people are facing. This is riskier that sticking to traditional service silos. It requires public servants to have the ability to “fall forward”, which means accepting that not everything will work but also embracing the importance of properly learning the lessons. To enable this new way of working, Kim is driving a major culture shift in her own organisation and also across partner organisations and in communities. Kim discusses how she is approaching this. Kim is an inspiring leader who knows what needs to happen and has the drive to do it…. oh and she loves Abba!
In this latest episode of Radical Reformers, Andrew talks to Kersten England, former Chief Executive of Bradford Council and current Chair of Bradford City of Culture 2025.Kersten highlights the importance of public services really getting to know local communities and understanding the context and contributing factors within people’s lives. It’s the only way to deliver meaningful support which will lift individuals and families out of downward spirals.Andrew and Kersten discuss the English Devolution White Paper and while a lot of the provisions are welcome, there is a risk that councils end up being squeezed between their statutory social care obligations and the demands of the Regional Strategic Authority. Kersten also shares her views on the bombardment of influencers targeting Gen Z and the importance of leaders understanding this environment in order to communicate and connect with young people.It’s a great episode touching on councils and place – and ultimately, relationships and community cohesion
In the latest episode of Radical Reformers, I get into the detail of the English devolution White Paper with the local government expert Arianna Giovannini. We discuss:💡The potential contradictions in the white paper with power being pushed down to strategic authorities but sucked up from local areas with the abolition of district councils. 💡The impetus the white paper presents for local places to take action and be bold and creative with public service reform in their areas.💡The importance of embracing the complexity and collaboration to be able to create real collaboration across public services operating on different geographical footprints.💡The role of Radical Place Leadership and integrated neighbourhood teams in addressing local need.Ariana also shared examples from the system in her native Italy and the lessons that we can learn from that. It’s a very timely discussion and a real treat for local government and public service reform nerds!
In the first Radical Reformers episode of 2025, I welcome Naomi Hulston, Chief Executive of Catch 22, a national charity delivering employment, education, justice, health, and social care services.Naomi shares her journey to becoming the Chief Executive of Catch 22. Her story is a powerful reminder that success often comes from doing what you love and making a positive impact on the community. Naomi describes how Catch 22, despite being a large, national organisation, remains properly connected to communities to understand the full context of a person’s life. She also discusses the evolving relationship between employers and employees and asks if we have lost some connection and accountability post covid. Naomi's practical approach and unwavering optimism are a breath of fresh air. This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in public service innovation and community development.Enjoy it!
Radical Reformers is live! Join me as we dive into an insightful conversation live from the Reform Think Tank’s "Reimagining the Local State" conference in Sheffield. In this episode, a range of guests explore the changing relationship between central and local government, the importance of collaboration among different local partners to tackle complex societal problems and the momentum behind devolution. They also discuss the role of mayors, the impact of structural changes versus policy changes, and the concept of Radical Place Leadership. Thanks to our live guests:- Angie Ridgewell, Chief Executive Officer at Hertfordshire County Council- Charlie Pickles, Director, Reform Think Tank- Paul Morrison, Chief Executive, The Planning Inspectorate- Simon Kaye, Director of Policy, Reform Think TankDon't miss out on this engaging discussion that spotlights innovative policy conversations and the future of local government.
Radical Reformers returns! In this latest episode, I talk to Emmanuel Akpan Inwang, Founder and Director of Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust.Emmanuel's career journey is truly inspiring. He began as a teacher in Birmingham where he witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by looked-after children. This experience ignited a passion for improving the lives of those children and ultimately to the establishment of the Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust.The Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust is dedicated to providing exceptional residential care experiences for looked-after children. Emmanuel's journey to founding this organisation included extensive research and a transformative trip to Europe, where he visited children's homes in Germany and Denmark. He observed the positive outcomes of social pedagogy practices in these countries and was inspired to implement similar approaches in the UK. I love that The Trust focuses on creating stable, nurturing environments that are close to home and prioritise long-term relationships and holistic care for children.it's an inspiring listen and very relevant given the Government's focus on improving children's care homes in England.
In this episode of Radical Reformers, I speak to Martin P Griffiths, CBE, Trauma Surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust and Clinical Director of Violence Reduction at NHS London and Chair of the Board of Trustees at SHiFT UK.This episode is different from previous episodes. It is about gun and knife violence, its impact and why we all need to pay attention. As well as having to operate (often repeatedly) on young people involved in gun and knife violence, Martin spends a lot of his time and effort reaching out to communities where children may be at risk. He is an advocate of showing young people ‘green lights’ and a positive alternative rather than just ‘red lights’. We also delve into what real collaboration in public services means and how there is often a need to “unlearn” and to undertake “cultural healing” to get out of a siloed mentality.One of my favourite parts of the conversation is where Martin talks about the importance of having conversations and the power of an additional voice… a simple but often neglected practice. NB – parts of this conversation are quite hard hitting, especially for those who may be affected by the themes being discussed.
In this episode of Radical Reformers, I am joined by Theresa Leavy, former Executive Director for Children (DCS) at Dorset Council and Interim Director of Children’s services at Cheshire East Council. In this wonderfully honest and open discussion, Theresa takes us through her career from an 18 year old in charge of a group of kids in residential care, all the way through to leading Dorset's improvement journey over the last four years.It's a leadership master class where Theresa talks about the importance of connecting as a person with your work, the importance of delivering high support and high challenge as well as the true meaning of being kind. My favourite bit of the whole conversation is how leaders need to show vulnerability. I think this is something which is really lacking. Enjoy it!
In this latest episode of Radical Reformers, I am joined by Lucy Butler, Director of South East Regional Care Cooperative. Lucy shares how her early life experience led her to a career in public services, starting in adult social care and ultimately to various leadership positions in children's services. Most recently, Lucy was Director of Children’s Services at West Sussex. She discusses their improvement journey and the importance of ensuring a good culture filters all the way through an organisation and the key role persistence and consistency play in driving improvement. My favourite part of this episode is where Lucy shares the turning point in her career when she helped fight against child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Oxfordshire. She highlights the creative thinking that led everyone from hoteliers to taxi drivers to become part of tackling CSE during her time at Oxfordshire County Council. It’s an inspiring listen. Enjoy it!
This episode is with Mark Sims, the Chief Executive of the P3 Group. He describes P3 as an organisation that supports people who are having a "tough time" and he doesn't like putting labels on people. This really gives you an idea of the sort of leader Mark is and the sort of organisation P3 is. P3 are particularly active in supporting people who don't have a place to live and Mark sets out housing situation we find ourselves in and what some of the drivers are. For P3's work to be successful, Mark's team need to be able to collaborate with other service providers within the public sector or other third sector and private organisations - so he talks about how his team are empowered to work across organisational boundaries and to collaborate.The ambition of P3 is to find people somewhere to live, someone to love and something to do. Mark explains how when they're reviewing how successful they are as an organisation, it's not looking at growth metrics, it's not looking at numbers of contracts, numbers of staff. They ask themselves, are we living, are we loving, are we doing? And I think that's really powerful. For many organisations, taking that approach rather than just looking at the metrics would give them a much better idea of how successful they are. For any of you who know Mark, you'll know this will be a brilliant conversation and it really is. I enjoyed it and I learned a lot from it.
This episode is with Simon Beeton, the Chief Executive of Navigo Health and Social Care CIC, a mental health and wellbeing provider in Northeast Lincolnshire. Navigo have been named in the Sunday Times top 100 not-for-profit organisations to work five years in a row! So there will be lessons to learn for everyone. Simon has been on quite a journey. We talk about his transition from long standing Finance Director to Chief Executive and the challenges of moving to this broader, more strategic role. We discuss Navigo's impressive entrepreneurial activity, such as their purchase and running of a garden centre and restaurant. Public service entrepreneurialism is important in terms of giving individuals the space to be creative and also being entrepreneurial at an organisational level. Simon provides some good examples of how Navigo is creating the space to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission…The main section of the conversation is around £radical" place leadership and place working. Simon and I talk about how the local organisations in Northeast Lincolnshire want to work more effectively together, and how it's so important (in the words of NE Lincs Council Chief Executive, Rob Walsh) to put place above organisation.The Mutual Ventures team are lucky to be doing some innovative work with Northeast Lincolnshire on developing a more Radical Place Leadership approach and we talk about that and what the ultimate goals are.
This episode is all about the changing role of the council Chief Executive - and it certainly is changing!The financial pressures on councils are more intense than they have ever been. The responsibility that sits on a council Chief Executive to act as a place leader, engaging with the health and care system through the Integrated Care System arrangements, and also engaging with a Mayoral Combined Authority for Councils that have that arrangement in place. So, the modern council Chief Executive role is one which requires a broad range of skills and capabilities, but also huge reserves of personal resilience as the role becomes ever more public facing and scrutinised.So, the question has to be asked, who on earth would want to do this very difficult job? There isn’t a huge pipeline of people in the system ready to step up.To answer all of these questions and more, I'm delighted that the guests on this episode are Professor Donna Hall, Mutual Ventures Non-Executive Director and former Chief executive of Wigan Council and Stephen Young, current Chief Executive of Halton Council.
This episode is a bit special. It's the first time we have had two guests on at the same time. They are Charlie Pickles from the Reform Think Tank and Jack Shaw from Labour Together. You might recognise those names. Both Charlie and Jack have been on the podcast in their own right and had their own episode. Given that we've just had an election with a change of government, we wanted to get these two policy experts back in to talk about what a Labour government might mean in terms of public service reform. We cover a wide range of topics including the new central government missions and how they will be delivered, what the new government might mean for devolution and the relationship between central government. One thing is for sure – a lot more collaboration will be needed between public services at all levels. Both Charlie and Jack are so insightful and enthusiastic about genuine public service reform, which is what we hope you are all here to listen to!
This episode is with Tom Riordan. Tom is a legend in public service circles. He's been the Chief Executive of Leeds Council for 14 years, having previously led the Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward. Tom has achieved a huge amount in his time at Leeds, including substantial economic investment and regeneration, as well as being the Chief Executive that oversaw the turnaround of Leeds Children's Services from being in a very poor state to being a real exemplar. Tom and I talk about how you effect meaningful change in a place, how you work with partners, how it requires time, how you've got to have a really clear set of “ambitions” or “obsessions”. We get into some detail which I think leaders who are currently leading councils and “places” will find very useful. We also talked about prevention, how Leeds kept its Sure Start centres and had a focus on destigmatising people seeking support. Anybody who has encountered Tom (or even better worked with him) will know that he is totally against hero leadership. He sees himself as a servant leader and there's lots of good hints and tips as to how you can try and adopt a bit of that yourself.
This episode is with Leslie Dixon. Leslie is the chief executive of PSS, a Liverpool based charity delivering adult social care services and wider support to vulnerable people in Liverpool and across the country.Leslie is an inspiring leader who has been at the helm of PSS for nearly 15 years, which is a very long tenure in today’s age of chopping and changing jobs. We talk about how you can find a role that you really want to stick at and how it’s also important to make a quick decision if you know an organisation definitely isn’t for you.We discuss the work of PSS and in particular the Shared Lives scheme, which facilitates community care for vulnerable people (which PSS actually invented in the late 70s!).A large chunk of the discussion is about what makes for good commissioning and how we’d like to see a greater focus on outcomes rather than inputs and outputs and for there also to be more flexibility in the Commissioner provider relationship. Leslie would also like to see a shift in the emphasis towards preventative services and we talk about how that might happen. It is very difficult for the public sector to account for that type of early investment (something I covered with Rob Whiteman in an earlier episode).And finally, Leslie wanted to talk about how you leave an organisation well, especially after being there for a long time. It’s a fascinating conversation and I hope you enjoy it.
This episode is with Rob Whiteman, the Chief Executive of CIPFA. Rob is a very thoughtful and influential commentator on local government and public service reform. He has had a hugely interesting and varied career including stints as Chief Executive at the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and at the UK Border Agency (UKBA). Rob was at Barking and Dagenham when the BNP won an unprecedented number of council seats and he describes how the council worked to reengage with local communities to push back against some of the dangerous propaganda which had led to this election outcome. The learning from this is very relevant for council leaders today as many of our communities become increasingly polarised. As the former head of UKBA, Rob also provides some historical context and contemporary commentary on the small boats crisis. We spend most of our time talking about the state of local government and the main drivers for the financial crisis the sector finds itself facing. We discuss what the solutions could be including a return of a more radical version of Total Place, more collaboration between councils on issues like children’s social care and the potential of enhanced powers for Mayoral Combined Authorities. I also ask a new question “What would you do it you were Prime Minister for a day?”. Rob has a pretty radical answer!
This episode is with Dr. Linda Harris, the Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer of Spectrum Community Health a Wakefield based social enterprise, which delivers services covering a wide range of areas including prison health, sexual health and substance misuse. Linda describes Spectrum’s services and their incredible growth journey from an organisation of just 100 people to more than 800. We talk about the challenges and opportunities of managing a large organisation of primary care professionals, many of whom are GPs, who we know can be quite independently minded! We also talk about what Linda calls jail craft, which is all of the various precautions and processes you have to follow when you're delivering health care in a secure environment. Delivering these types of services on a day to day basis, Linda understandably has a tremendous interest in the wider social determinants of health and we get into a discussion about health neglect, and social issues and how a person's situation can deteriorate over time. We also talk about some of the measures that can be put in place to try and prevent this very damaging and cumulative harm being done.
This episode is with Sarah Thomas, the Chief Executive of the Fostering Network, the UK’s leading fostering charity and membership organisation. The network provides training, support and advice to everyone involved in the fostering journey. This episode is part of Mutual Ventures' 2024 #PrioritisingPublicServices campaign.Sarah has an incredible and very relevant backstory, which involved going from homeless at 16 to being a Chief Executive at 40, which is incredible. Her passion for supporting vulnerable children and parents comes across strongly, along with some completely understandable frustration at how parts of the system work. You won't find many people with as much knowledge about the UK fostering and children's social care system so we really get into how system is performing, what's going well and what some of the challenges are. Sarah and I also unpack why the system isn't improving outcomes for children and young people, and what she thinks needs to happen to make a difference. We then move on to talk about one of the big questions troubling leaders across all public services i.e. how do you move towards prevention and away from crisis response? Especially at a time when council services don't have a lot of money. They certainly don't have much in the way of reserves. Within this context, how do you make that flip towards prevention? We also discuss how to tackle the stigma of seeking support as a parent, and also have a detailed discussion on children's residential care and why that market isn't working. And it certainly isn't!
This episode is with Rob Walsh, the long standing Chief Executive of Northeast Lincolnshire Council. Rob has been Chief Exec of Northeast Lincolnshire for 10 years now which, in an era of quite high turnover for top local government jobs, is quite some achievement! Rob tells the story of how Northeast Lincolnshire is an area which has seen decline in the fishing industry - but is now embracing a new era of possibility around the decarbonisation and renewable energy market. Northeast Lincolnshire is a fantastic case study for Place Leadership: It was the first time to receive a Town Deal back in 2018; It has a long-standing section 75 agreement, which is essentially a way of pooling funding and resources between councils and the health system; and they are also part of proposal for a Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral Combined Authority. On top of that, within Northeast Lincolnshire itself, there's quite a lot of co-terminosity between some of the key anchor institutions, the council, and some of the key health providers, who are largely social enterprises. Rob is a very humble and quietly inspiring leader. And in my opinion, there is something quite special happening in Northeast Lincolnshire. I think they are quietly becoming a forerunner for what other areas in the country could aspire to.
This episode is with Sam Allen, the Chief Executive of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System. This system covers a huge geography with 3.6m people living in both urban and rural settings in 14(!) different council areas. As you can imagine, getting this up and running was a real challenge and Sam explains how she has led that work and engaged with partners across the region. Sam understands really effective public services needs to be centred around the person and she has a very clear understanding of her role as a system leader focusing on the strategic things which are best done at scale while empowering places and neighbourhoods to do the really important locally focused work. A big segment of our conversation is on children’s health. We discuss how no one part of the system (NHS, councils, third sector) can hope to improve outcomes acting on their own. Genuine collaboration must be enabled from the system level all the way down to places and neighbourhoods. We also talk about women’s health and the importance of raising awareness and understanding particularly in the workplace. It’s a fantastic conversation and I hope you enjoy it.
This episode is with Sam Plum, the inaugural Chief Executive of the new Westmorland and Furness Council. This council was created when Cumbria County Council split into two – so Westmorland and Furness has half the old County Council and the three districts, which used to sit in that geographical footprint.This #RadicalReformers episode is part of the February "Place Leadership" theme of our #PrioritisingPublicServices campaign.Sam gives her perspective on the different stages of implementing the change, starting with a period where the focus is on settling and stabilising. However, Sam has never lost sight of the forward vision and ensuring that the benefits of reorganisation are achieved for the people of Westmorland and Furness. Sam has some very clear ideas of what she wants to achieve in the long term, focusing on the three E's of equity, economy, and environment.One of the really striking things for me in this conversation is how Sam sees herself as a “place” leader, not just the leader of an organisation. She is ready to focus on wider benefits rather than just those which directly impact the council. I think there are huge lessons to be drawn from this conversation for place leaders and council leaders everywhere.Enjoy it!
This episode is with Elly De Decker, the Chief Executive of the Bromley by Bow Centre, a nationally renowned community centre in East London. Before this, Elly was the England Director of the National Lottery Community Fund, a huge job controlling a budget of £400m. Elly describes her decision to move from this highly visible national role to an ultra-local community-focused one. We talk about the support the Bromley By Bow centre provides, which ranges from health and wellbeing services, employment and skills support through to adult social care. The most impactful thing about the centre is the physical environment and culture which creates an “oasis” for local people to come to and get the help they need. The centre works closely with the NHS as well as council adult social care and public health services which gives Elly great insight into what’s working in the current system and what isn’t. We talk about the importance of the wider social determinants of health and how these are not yet prioritised by the formal system despite the impact they have on preventing demand for expensive NHS interventions. Elly and I discuss about how leaders will often talk the talk on better collaboration - but often this doesn’t filter down to day-to-day activities and therefore organisations and services remain siloed and people seeking support see no real difference. A key element of effective collaboration has to be better data sharing which allows partners to target their support in the best possible way and to also track their impact. Unfortunately, this remains a difficult issue and is often left in the too difficult pile. Having said all this, Elly is remarkably optimistic and positive. Her mantra is “assume it’s possible!” and I think you will be inspired by this conversation.
This episode is with Andy Couldrick. Andy is the Chair of the Birmingham Children’s Trust, having just stepped back from being the Chief Executive since the organisation was founded. Before joining the Trust, Andy led an incredibly fast children’s services improvement journey in Wokingham Council, moving up from a rating of “inadequate” in just a year. He explains how that was achieved and the importance of having the right team and being able to do many things in parallel. Andy also talks about his transition to Chief Executive from Director of Children’s Services and the different mindset and skills that required. Birmingham is not the only Children’s trust in the country and Andy explains exactly what a Trust is and how it works to give a service space and protection from what might be a difficult Council environment. Anyone with an interest in Local Government will know that Birmingham is facing some severe challenges. A key attribute Andy demonstrates is perseverance. He talks about the critical importance of keeping showing up and keeping consistent messaging over time, particularly of you are asking people who have been on multiple failed improvement journeys to trust you and buy in to what you are trying to achieve. And finally, we talked about the role of children’s services in the wider system and in particular the key role council services play in achieving system objectives around children’s health and wellbeing.
This episode is with leading health and care expert Nigel Edwards. Nigel recently stepped down as the chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust, a leading health think tank, after a wide-ranging career in the sector, which included a stint at NHS Confederation. This episode is very timely. Health and care services are adapting to a new structure at the same time as being under huge pressure and Nigel brings fantastic insight into what is currently happening within the system and what might change. We talk about the emphasis on “place” and “neighbourhoods” and the ambition for local services to be more co-ordinated, driven by local priorities and ultimately more focused on keeping people healthy and out of hospital. We ask the question – are leaders able to make time to build the relationships which are needed to enable this type of high trust working.We take a deep dive into children’s health and discuss the ambitious plans Integrated Care Boards have for children’s health and the fact that the NSH cannot possibly achieve them without working very closely with councils and other partners. We ask, what enabling leadership and conditions need to be in place to achieve these ambitions for children? None of these changes will have any effect unless the change permeates down to middle management and front line staff. We challenge the notion of the “frozen middle” or “permafrost” which is a criticism sometimes aimed at public sector middle managers and look at the potential of regional working and ask what the right level is for different activities. Enjoy it!
This episode is a real treat for anyone interested in a more person-centred way of delivering support. The conversation is with Helen Thomson, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Calico Group, an independent charity group which operates in the northwest and does everything from house building to employment support to helping people with drug and alcohol addiction. Andrew and Helen cover a lot of ground including how the Calico group is able to integrate the services they provide to ensure people get the seamless help they need. They do this through a focus on internal data sharing and ensuring trusting relationships and an understanding of all available services provided are in place across the organisation. Its all about not putting anyone in a box but rather offering them the tailored support they need. The Calico group also understands the multiple benefits of giving opportunities to people with lived experience to participate in the delivery of services. Who better to connect with and guide someone looking to reduce their dependence on drugs and/or alcohol than someone who has been on that journey. Helen also talks about the importance of taking controlled risks in the delivery of public services and the wonderful concept of “reverse mentoring”.Enjoy it!
This episode is with Adele Taylor, the Executive Director of Finance and Commercial Services at Slough Borough Council.Those of you who know your local government onions will be aware that Slough has been in some financial difficultly. Adele joined the council earlier this year with a remit to get the finances back under control and to rebuild confidence and trust with local residents. I think its fair to say that Adele is attracted to a crisis situation and feels her skill set is well suited to it – I completely agree. She is also a finance director who really gets the importance of culture and relationships particularly when the priority is re-establishing trust both within and with people outside the council. We talk about how aware local residents are of their council’s financial situation and the impact it has on those who rely on services, especially when terms like “bankruptcy” are used freely (and incorrectly). Adele also understands the need to communicate the financial situation in understandable terms both within the council to staff and members, but also to the wider public. We also talk about the value of diversity within the public services workforce and the huge value people with different perspectives and abilities bring to an area like finance, which is sometimes regarded as quite dry and purely objective. And finally, if you are looking for a bit of inspiration as to why a career in local government is the right thing – Adele gives a powerful rallying call to people to say “come and work in a council and have an meaningful career. Look at the amazing things we do!”.
Another conference-based episode! This time I travelled to the impressive new City Hall in Sunderland for the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network’s (CCIN) annual conference.CCIN is a network of like-minded councils who believe in a set of principles including: social partnership; co-production; social economy; new models for meeting priority needs; and innovation. We really think the moment has arrived for this type of community focused thinking and there were a ton of ideas shared on the day. As per previous conference specials, the result a series of mini-interviews with some of the key speakers of the day and provides a great summary of wide range of topics discussed, including the impressive benefits of mutuals and co-operatives as deliverers of public services, and values driven approaches to AI. So quite a mix!Interviewees include:- Cllr. Louise Gittins, CCIN Chair and Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council- Scott Darraugh, Chief Executive, Social adVentures- Jeff Scales, Head of Services, Locality- David Hepworth, Digital Transformation Partner, Newcastle City Council- Rob Gregory, Assistant Director Digital Transformation, Wigan- Nicola Huckerby, CCIN Operations Lead and conference organiser- And “Pepper” the University of Sunderland welcome robotFinally, I spent some time discussing the conference with MV colleague John Copps, who was also there.
Last week, Andrew attended the #Solacesummit2023 in Birmingham. In collaboration with the Solace team, he recorded a podcast episode to try and capture some of the key themes and takeaways from the day.Regular listeners will know we did something similar at the New Local #Strongerthings conference earlier in the year (you can find that episode on the podcast site). As then, the result is a series of mini-interviews with some of the stars of the day and provides a great summary of the main discussion points.Solace Summits are focused on personal development so there is a lot on how leaders make time for reflection and development. But we also get into some of the challenging issues of the day including playing a leadership role in a council which is under intervention and supporting local residents with the cost-of-living crisis.Interviewees include:- Adele Taylor, Executive Director of Finance and Commercial, Slough Borough Council- Sophie Hosking, Strategic Director – Neighbourhoods, Cornwall Council- Hal Khanom, Head of Strategy and Community Participation, London Borough of Barnet- Ruth Du Plessis, Director of Public Health, St Helen’s Council- Rob Powell, Executive Director for Resources, Warwickshire County Council- Allison Thomas, Chief Executive, North West Leicestershire District CouncilFinally, Andrew spent some time with Solace Managing Director, Graeme McDonald reflecting on the conference and what he hopes people took away from it. One immediate reflection was that despite all the pressure the local government sector is under, the leaders and future leaders at the summit were resilient and determined to do the best they can for the communities they serve. We owe them all a debt of gratitude.It’s all very inspiring stuff. Speaking of inspiring, one of the keynote speakers on the day was the inspiring John Amaechi. So as well as reflecting on the discussions with the interviewees, Andrew also talks about on the important messages from John on equality and diversity.I hope you enjoy it!
This episode is with Andrew Christie, a children’s services professional who is held in the highest regard across the sector. He has been the Director of Children’s services across three London councils (Tri-borough), a Department for Education appointed Commissioner supporting failing children’s services and the Chair of the Birmingham Children’s Trust. There are very few children’s services professional who bring the level of experience and knowledge that Andrew does so it was a pleasure to discuss with him some of the current issues the sector is facing. We talked about what it was like bringing together the children’s services from three different London Boroughs and the challenge of differing populations and needs as well as organisational cultures. But there are also benefits which can be gained such as reaching a critical mass for services such as fostering and how they were able to identify and adopt the best practices from each council across all three. Andrew and I discussed recent research from Pro Bono Economics which shows the worrying trend of spending on crisis response going way up while spending on early intervention is dropping through the floor. I ask Andrew what can be done about this within the funding constraint councils are currently subject to?The Mutual Ventures team are very lucky to be working with Andrew on a Department for Education programme focused on improving the recruitment and retention of foster carers. This is critical to the proper functioning of the wider social care system and we discuss the “relational” approach to foster carer recruitment and retention and how this more human focus is applicable more broadly across public service reform.
This episode is with Deborah Cadman, the Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, Europe’s largest local authority. Deborah was previously been the Chief Executive at the West Midlands Combined Authority having also led at a County and District level. Those of you who follow the news will know that Birmingham City Council is in financial difficulty. This isn’t a news podcast and although Deborah chooses to talk a little about it, it’s not what I focus on. The #radicalreformers podcast is about public service reform, leadership and culture and on these Deborah has a wealth of experience and insight. We spend time talking about her role in Birmingham and the challenge of driving economic growth whilst also tackling inequality and also how keep a focus on delivering the public services so many vulnerable people rely on against a backdrop of a huge range of strategic challenges.Deborah shares her unique perspective on the different levels of local and devolved government and the responsibilities that should sit at each level. Leadership and culture feature heavily in this conversation. Birmingham is a very large and complex organisation and I ask Deborah how she tackles issues such as gender and race equality. Deborah also explains the three things she expects from people who work for her – be brave, be curious, and be true.Enjoy it.
Inclusivity… Inequality… These are important, much-used words – but how do you generate meaningful action? This episode is with Fatima Khan Shah, West Yorkshire’s Inclusivity Champion. Fatima’s role is new, wide ranging and sits right at the heart of what both the West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, and the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, led by Rob Webster, are trying to achieve. This is certainly no box ticking role – something new and exciting is happening.There is a lot to learn from this episode! Fatima is a wonderfully engaging and inspiring interviewee and we discuss the origins of her role and how it works in practice, including some top advice for balancing the desire for quick reform with the importance of bringing people with you on the journey. There is a lot of advice on how to positively influence people, which involves putting yourself in their shoes and tailoring your “pitch”. We also get into the nuts and bolts of her inclusivity goals, including the main wider determinants of health and wellbeing, how you can move the dial on them and how that plays into improving inclusivity and reducing inequality. We also have an important discussion on the “culture wars” which are raging at the minute. How should public professionals engage in these debates? How do you tackle difficult issues and call out poor behaviour at the risk of being lazily labelled as “woke”?
We are in the midst of a housing crisis and a climate crisis – so how do we build more homes and how can this be done in a way that is “planet positive”? What is a “Passivhaus”? And what is a Building Biologist?
These are all questions I ask Emma Osmundsen, Chief Exec of Waltham Forest Council’s property development company, Sixty Bricks.
Emma explains how property development companies operate, how the financing works and the relationships needed with councils and other partners.
Emma is an advocate for Passivhaus, which is a highly efficient and environmentally friendly building standard. She explains what this is and how it is achieved before going on to talk about the fascinating work of building biologists and how the way a house is designed and built influences health and wellbeing.
We also discuss how building physical houses alone is not enough – the focus needs to be on building communities with the right social infrastructure in place such as access to green spaces, public services and schools etc.
It’s not just housing Emma is interested in. She has also led the development of the UK’s first Passivhaus leisure centre which is a remarkable achievement given how energy inefficient leisure centres tend to be.
This episode is a wide ranging and captivating conversation with Marian Ridley, the former Chief Executive of the Evelina Children’s hospital in London. Marian is a thoughtful and quietly inspiring leader and there are a lot of more generally applicable thoughts and ideas which emerge from this episode.
We talk about the changing health needs of the UK population since the NHS was founded and how this is challenging the NHS model. We also discussed the balance between management and clinical delivery within the NHS and how perceived wisdom of there being “too much management” is wrong.
Marian has some insightful thoughts on the role of place leads in the new ICS model, their role as conveners and the ability of local leaders to make their own prioritisation decisions regarding health and care activity. Local place leads are often council chief executives who should be well placed to appreciate and influence the wider determinants of health and the full range of available local assets. We also got into the ability of NHS organisations to become more effective local anchor institutions.
Finally, we discuss the critically important but often heart-breaking job of caring for seriously ill children and the difficult decisions which professionals and families have to make.
This episode is with Graeme McDonald, the Managing Director of Solace, a national membership network for current and future public service leaders.
As you can imagine Graeme has a pretty unique perspective on the myriad of challenges and opportunities facing public services and local government in particular.
Solace is primarily focused on leadership development so we talk about how public service leaders can continue to develop whilst operating in a state of “perma poly crisis”. This means both formal learning but also creating space for more informal reflection and thinking time – so important to support leaders to make good decisions and avoid burnout.
We also talk about the state of local government sector more generally. There have obviously been some high-profile failures – but are these one-off cases or are the challenges more systemic and bubbling beneath the surface more broadly? We have a great discussion about this.
And what about how the sector responds to failure? Graeme doesn’t think we have the balance between central intervention and sector led improvement quite right. It tends to be one or the other and Graeme argues there is scope for more of a blended approach.
I think you will agree that Graeme is a very thoughtful and considered interviewee and I learned a lot from this discussion and I hope you will too.
This latest episode is with Stephen Young who has been chief Executive of Halton Council for just 14 months – but you wouldn’t think it!
What follows is an in-depth, thoughtful conversation about how you get things done in a council, how you engage with the wider system and how you drive change… without driving everyone around you mad in the process.
Stephen and I discuss Halton's radical transformation programme which seeks to move the councils attention away from constantly dealing with crisis and onto early help and prevention. We talk about the approaches and tactics you need to deploy to make a success of it, including knowing how much credit as a new leader you have in the bank (and using it carefully) as well as my usual favourite topic of levelling up (Halton style this time!) and the benefits of being a council within a Mayoral Combined Authority.
We also talk about what a “place” needs to attract inward investment including investing in developing the right skills within the local population and ensuring public services and the broader public realm are up to scratch.
Finally, and I wasn’t expecting this, we have a great conversation about AI and the impact it could have on council services. This is a big area of interest for me and I expect to be talking about this a lot more.
This episode is with Adam Hawksbee, the Deputy Director of the Onward think tank having previously spent time working directly with West Midlands Mayor Any Street.
This is for anyone interested in levelling up and the different lenses through which you can consider it including: economic development; public health; crime and antisocial behaviour; and local workforce skills. Onward have conducted some fascinating research across the country and Adam relays some of the learning from that including what levelling up activity is happening in Barry – the home of TV hit Gavin and Stacey.
Adam also discusses the concepts of levelling up fast and slow and what they mean (spoiler alert! you need both), how public investment and private investment need to work together and why some areas are very happy to be “commuter towns” and others aren’t.
If levelling up isn’t your thing then we also find time to explore the impact of AI (particularly on public services), a new idea for national service, the importance of hydrogen to the net zero goal, and how patriotism has become a misunderstood concept.
This episode is a bit different. Last week I attended the New Local #StrongerThings2023 conference. It was an amazing day at the spectacular City of London Guild Hall. I don't know exactly how many people were there in person but it felt like about 600 - the (very large) hall was packed to the brim. The New Local team very kindly agreed that I could record a podcast at the event. I have never done anything like this before - but I have to say it was brilliant fun and I hope you enjoy the result. The result is a series of mini-interviews with some of the stars of the day and I think provides a great summary of the main discussion points of the day. Interviewees include:- Jess Studdert, Deputy Chief Exec of New Local- Immy Kaur, Director of Civic Square- Emily Morrison, Head of the Institute for Local Studies at the Young Foundation- Kate Josephs, Chief Exec of Sheffield City Council- Sophia Parker, Joseph Rowntree Foundation- Seb Payne, Director of the Onward think tank- Barry Quirk, Former Council Chief Exec- Nick Temple, Chief Exec of the Social Investment Business- Sarah Longlands, Chief Executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies- Jon Alexander, Founder of the New Citizenship ProjectI then spent some time reflecting on the day with Prof Donna Hall, who has been the Chair of New Local for the last five years and is a talisman for this empowering communities movement. A true legend. Donna also reflects on her time as Chair and what’s changed and what hasn’t over the last five years. Donna’s call at the start of the day for a new #rebelalliance really took hold as you will hear from the interviews. So was this a step-change moment for community empowerment? Maybe - but only if we keep the momentum up. There are clearly enough leaders in positions of local power who get it.I hope you enjoy it!
This episode is all about leadership. It’s a conversation with Brigid Russel, one of the most humbly inspiring people I have had as a guest on the podcast. Brigid is a public service leadership coach so this conversation is a little bit different from the usual #Radicalreformers podcasts but it is highly relevant to those leaders and aspiring leaders who want to discover their most “authentic” selves. This conversation is essentially a welcome takedown of the concept of “hero leadership” where you have to pretend to know the answers to everything and can’t let your authority be challenged. Brigid and I talk about relational leadership and how important trust is between leaders in public services and within teams. We are all humans trying to do our best and no amount of project plans and processes can eclipse the power of a trusting human connection. We talk about system leadership and how in the increasingly complex environment within which public services operate, no one leader can possibly know everything or control all the levers needed to achieve a good outcome. Finally, Brigid discusses in some detail how much of yourself and your personal life should you bring to work… not an easy one for many people and unsurprisingly there is no one size fits all answer.
This episode is with Paul Morrison, the civil servant who ran the “Homes for Ukraine” refugee housing programme. As you would expect, it is a fascinating story of collaboration and trust between central government, local government, the third sector and communities. Before this Paul had also led the Syrian refugee rehousing programme and he describes how he was able to bring to bear the lessons learned and the network he built up during that crisis to deal with the more extreme (in terms of speed and numbers) Ukrainian crisis. Paul is multi-talented to say the least, so there are multiple dimensions to this conversation. He is now the Chief Executive of The Planning Inspectorate and part of our discussion is about helping listeners understand the context of the often very political public discourse on the number of houses we are building in the UK.Finally, Paul is also a driving force of a group of radically minded public servants who gather to discuss public service reform and particularly how to break down barriers between departments and service areas and also between the public, private and third sector. It’s a fascinating group and I have been lucky enough to participate in some of the sessions.
This episode is all about food and farming. Sue Pritchard is the Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. The FFCC started life as a classic “Commission” with a start and end point but has evolved into a sustainable standalone charity focused on ensuring decision makers understand the issues facing farmers post Brexit. Sue does a great job of explaining the current situation in the UK including how self-sufficient (or not) we are as a nation, our reliance on “ultra processed” food and global commoditisation of food which is limiting the sustainability and resilience of our food supply chain, limiting biodiversity and driving the climate crisis. Food is something most of us take for granted – but we really shouldn’t. This is a crash course in what you need to know.The challenges facing the rural economy are substantial – did you know that nearly half of all farmers earn less than £20k a year? The image of a rich farmer in the Range Rover does not represent the majority. Sue and I also discuss what a better future might look like with the idea of sustainable 15-minute communities playing a key role. On a lighter note, I think we get to the bottom of where Jeremy Clarkson got the idea for his “Clarkson’s Farm” TV show from. I learned more from this conversation than I think I have from any other episode. I hope you enjoy it and learn from it as I did.
This episode is with Katie Kelly, the Deputy Chief Executive of East Ayrshire Council and the focus is on the benefits of empowering communities. This is an amazing conversation with a truly inspirational leader. When you listen, I think you will agree we need more like Katie working in public services. There is little doubt East Ayrshire is leading the way on community engagement and community power. They have a very advanced and mature model which includes significant achievements in transferring assets to communities. We get into some detail as to how that works. There is a drive for transferring assets to community ownership and English councils could learn a lot from this Scottish exemplar.Katie also talks about how East Ayrshire engages with third sector to deliver services. They have a rich history of supporting and trusting community based organisations – a trust which was repaid over the difficult pandemic years.Finally, we discussed Katie’s history as a high level sports player and coach and how she has brought the lessons she learned from that experience to bear as a public sector leader.
This episode is with Lucy Wightman, the Director of public health at Essex and it is a fantastic exploration of the role of public health in today’s public services and how far from being a specialist niche service area it should be front of mind for every public servant. This is the second episode in succession with a public health focus (following the conversation with Kate Ardern). This is very deliberate. At this critical juncture for the government’s levelling up agenda, I want to highlight the key role public health must play in supporting individuals, communities and local economies.We talk about the complexity of Lucy’s role in Essex, where she sits at a County level but engages with three Integrated Care Systems and 12 district councils – how does this work in practice? How does she influence the key people she needs to?We talk about the current set of health and care reforms and what the key elements are for a county like Essex and more broadly. Lucy has a particular interest in health inequalities and why, despite some powerful works of research from Michael Marmot and others, this isn’t trending in the right direction. The question of devolved powers is key here. And finally, Government can’t and shouldn’t be responsible for all aspects of public health so we discuss the role of business and civil society in ensuring communities are as healthy, happy and productive as they can be.
This episode is with Prof. Kate Ardern, the former Director of Public Health at Wigan. We talk about the challenging journey Wigan has been on and how the “Wigan Deal” culture has shaped her approach to public health. By the time Kate left Wigan last year, it had become a national beacon of good public health practice.Kate was also the lead for Health Protection and Emergency Planning & Response across Greater Manchester – so we discuss what it was like being "Manchester’s answer to Chris Witty" over the pandemic. Kate is an honorary professor at the University of Salford and in true educational form she treats us to an amazing and entertaining history lesson on public health from the original “fab four” in Liverpool (no not The Beatles!) through to an anecdote about the late Baroness Thatcher getting to grips with the finer details of sexual health. Finally, we touch on end-of-life care, a difficult subject which is often neglected but one which Kate cares about a lot.
This episode is with Mark Smith, Director of transformation at Gateshead Council, and is focused on how to drive local innovation. Mark’s role gives him is the ability to think freely and to think long term – and that is exactly what he has done. We talk about how you get started on an innovation journey – how do you choose the right service area to begin with? Mark has some great insight. To give you an idea of what we are talking about, Mark worked with the council tax collection team to change how they engaged with people who were in arears. The normal process would be to assess and eventually send in the bailiffs. Mark and the team turned this on its head and spent time engaging with people and families who owed the council money and finding out what the real issues were. A key learning from this is the importance of retaining context when delivering public services to vulnerable people. Often the aim seems to be to design the context out and try to achieve a one size fits all answer. This seldom works in practice. Finally, we touch on devolution and the exiting new developments in the North East – what does this mean for public service delivery.
This episode is with Kev Henman, the Chief Executive of the youth work charity Space. Based in Devon, Space supports young people to learn, create and realise their potential. It’s to this podcast’s detriment that we haven’t had a youth service leader as a guest before - and I am delighted to correct that omission with such an inspiring, authentic leader.Kev has real lived experience which he brings to bear in this role. We discuss the formation of Space six years ago when it moved from the council to independence and we talk about how the service has grown both in terms of what it does to support young people and where it operates. We talk about the pressure young people are under today and the important role youth centres can play in providing a safe welcoming place for those who might otherwise lose their way. Kev is a values driven person and he describes the importance of listening to what young people have to say, especially about things which affect them, and of not letting “risk aversion” stop you giving people who could do good a second chance.
This episode is with Emma Perry, the Managing Director of Bevan, a social enterprise supporting the health and wellbeing of people who are homeless or in unstable accommodation.This is a brilliant and inspiring conversation. What an amazing organisation Bevan is!Emma and I talk about the work Bevan does providing GP and wrap around health support to the most vulnerable. As you can imagine, there are a lot of specific challenges in this work requiring the practitioners to bring all of their compassion, resilience and determination to the job. The “Bevan Bus”, a fully equipped mobile medical unit, is a great example of how you sometimes have to bring the service to the person. The Covid pandemic has not made this task any easier and Emma shares some of the wonderful stories of how people have been helped and supported to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives. We also talked about some of the innovations developed during Covid which the team at Bevan have maintained such as a greater focus on digital access to health and care as well as peer advocacy network. Finally, we talk about what motivates and drives Emma. It’s the all-important question of “why?” – why am I doing this? I loved the answer and I think you will too.
This episode is with Julain McCrae from Engage Britain, a leading public engagement charity. Public opinion and attitudes are important when it comes to public services. That doesn’t mean services should give the public everything they think they want but there is no doubt services are trying to become more “customer centric”.Julian and I discuss the public attitude to public services. The Chancellor has promised us Scandinavian quality and Singaporean efficiency in our public services - that seems a tough one to achieve so I ask Julian what people actually expect from the state? Public opinion on health care is a particular specialism of Julian’s and we get into some detail on attitudes towards health services and in particular how the health system interacts with individuals – is it working?Finally, we talk about how to engage and connect people with public service reform. How do you get people interested in areas which they don’t immediately see as relevant to them?
This episode is with Jessica Studdert, the Deputy Chief Executive of New Local, in my view the preeminent local government think tank.I’ve really been looking forward to this one.We cover a huge range of issues including: the relationship between central and local government and how that changed over Covid and what’s happening right now – was that a catalyst moment or is it back to business as usual?We discuss what local growth means and how important it is not just to devolve key areas such as skills to local areas but to also to ensure the right package of powers are devolved so things can be joined up. Health and care is a big issue at the moment and Jessica and I get into some detail on where responsibility for health in its broadest sense should sit – spoiler it’s not with hospitals. Jessica has very interesting and valid views on local government structures and how these must be secondary to culture and behaviours. Finally, we talk about the benefits of what Jessica calls a “zig zag” career – I’m a big believer in the value of getting experience in different arenas and Jessica has certainly done that.
This episode is with Jack Shaw, a local government researcher and academic associated with the IPPR think tank and the Bennet Institute for Public Policy. If you are on social media and interested in local government, the chances are you are a follower of Jack as he produces invaluable research and insight.
We recorded a week after the Autumn budget - so we discuss the impact the Chancellor’s decisions will have on councils and local services. We particularly focus on the levelling up agenda and the various funds associate with that. We ask ourselves if “levelling up” is still a priority for this government and discuss potential future models for local growth funding
Jack and I also talk about devolution, the patchwork of local government systems that exist across England and public service reform more generally. It’s a fascinating discussion for those of you interested in local public services.
This episode is with Edna Robinson. Edna is nothing short of a legend in public service circles. She is currently the Chair of the Big Life Group, The Greater Manchester Alternative Provider Federation and the People’s Powerhouse. She started her professional career as a midwife and worked her way up to be Chief Executive of a number of NHS organisations and a special advisor in central government.
This is a very frank conversation in which Edna and Andrew discuss the current NHS reforms – is this just more of the same people in the same echo chamber? They talk about the important role charities and social enterprises play in the health and care system (which is where the Alternative Provider Federation comes in) and the importance of the third sector being able to operate professionally at scale.
Edna and Andrew also discuss the critical role of the “lay voice” within care pathways and how important it is for leaders of large organisations to stay connected to people on the front line.
In this episode Andrew Laird speaks to Selina Douglas. Selina is an Exec Director at the Northeast London Foundation Trust (NELFT), a large community services provider operating in London, Essex and Kent.
Selina has a rich mixture of professional experience having worked in the third sector, within councils and in the NHS. This gives her two very important perspectives, one is about challenging traditional progression routes within the public sector i.e. gathering a range of experiences rather than just sticking in one silo and the second is an appreciation of the role other players such as councils and the third sector have in successfully supporting people to live healthy fulfilling lives.
Andrew and Selina also talk about the importance of representation in terms of ethnicity and gender but also in terms of organisational type.
This a very timely conversation between host Andrew Laird and poverty and cost-of-living expert Helen Barnard. Helen is a Associate Director at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Research and Policy Director at Pro Bono Economics. Chances are you have heard Helen talking about the current crisis on the news.
For context, as the podcast was recorded, the Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng had just stepped aside and the “mini budget” was being unwound...
Helen has just released a new book called “Want” which is part of a series styled as a new Beverage report. Andrew and Helen discuss the drivers of poverty and how Government should respond in the aftermath of the pandemic, which has surfaced and exacerbated a huge level of inequality in our society. They also discuss what the priorities should be at the various levels of government. Helen and Andrew are both Commissioners on Philippa Stroud’s Poverty Strategy Commission which aims to develop concrete policy proposals in this area.
They also talk about good policy making and how in order to make sustainable progress, people of differing views need to come together and try and reach consensus. It seems to there is a dangerous norm emerging that unless you agree with someone else on everything you can agree on nothing – this is the road to nowhere. Coalition building around specific topics is key to lasting progress.
This episode is with Jules Hillier, the Chief Executive of Pause, a national charity which supports women who have had multiple babies removed into care.
If Pause sounds familiar it’s because the very first episode of the podcast back in 2020 was with Sophie Humphreys who was the founder of Pause.
I’m interested in the how organisations successfully transition from entrepreneur/founder to long-term Chief Exec and this is a great case study. It’s a very different set of skills and a very different role as the new Chief Exec sets out to grow the organisation and make it sustainable.
On top of this, Jules and I talk about a wide range of things including the fact that if you keep the focus on quality and continuous improvement then the Return on Investment (so critical for the Finance Directors out there!) will take care of itself.
Pause largely operates via a franchise model and we discuss the right level of freedom and flexibility versus national standards and model fidelity.
Finally, Jules has some great views on how to approach a Chief Exec role – you don’t have to be the best at everything (or even good at everything). This seems obvious but there are far too many “hero leaders” out there who think they have to do it all! and that’s never good for organisations.
This episode is with Sophie Clarke a Director of Capacity, an organisation based in the north-west of England. Capacity bridges the gap between consultancy and delivery – they describe themselves as a “do tank” not just a “think tank”.
Capacity’s core purpose is about making public services “people services”. Sophie explains exactly what that means (and in particular the importance of relationships) better than anyone I’ve ever spoken to. She clearly “gets” what it takes to make a meaningful positive change to people’s lives.
We spend time talking about the Juno Project, a Liverpool based initiative which is challenging the children’s residential care market. This market is plagued with private providers charging huge sums, placing children and young people far from their communities and generally not delivering good outcomes. There is genuinely radical innovation here and from a practical perspective we talk about the challenge of getting this project up and running and properly funded.
You will be able to tell I really enjoyed speaking with Sophie and I hope you do too.
This conversation is with Mila Lukic, the Chief Executive and co-founder of Bridge Outcomes Partnerships, a social enterprise operating in the social investment space.
Now before you conclude that this will all be about financing mechanisms – there is a little on that – but what the conversation is really about is how to encourage and support innovation in public services.
We talk about social impact bonds and outcomes-based commissioning and how these mechanisms help focus services on the ultimate outcome you are trying to achieve rather than the process. Many contractual arrangements are rigid and limiting in terms of being able to make in-flight adjustments to services and to try new things.
This should be of great interest to anyone working on designing, commissioning or delivering public services – I hope you learn as much from it as I did!
This episode is with Chris Wright, the outgoing Chief Executive of Catch 22. Chris is a maverick thinker (and doer) who is determined to make public services work better and achieve better outcomes for vulnerable people.
Catch 22 is a national charity which delivers support to young people and families in the realms of justice, education, apprenticeships and elements of social care – so as you can imagine, it’s a very wide-ranging discussion.
The system is not always designed to encourage (or even tolerate) radical new ideas and Chris shares his thoughts on how that can be changed, including a need to challenge the “bureaucratic mindset” and create space for radical thinking and a tolerance for failure. We also talk about how organisations should not be “seduced by revenue”. There are healthier things to focus on!
I also continue my quest to find answers on how radical innovation in public services can be funded – and as you can imagine Chris has his own ideas on that.
I loved this episode and I hope you do too.
This episode is with Nick Temple, the Chief Executive of the Social investment Business. I haven’t had anyone from the social investment space on the podcast – so I thought it was high time I did!
Social Investment can play an important enabling role in public services and there are some important new ideas in the Levelling Up White Paper e.g. around enabling the use of government pension funds for impact investing - so it’s important for us all to have an understanding.
As well as a general discussion about the work of the Social Investment Business and the state of the social investment sector, we talk about how social investment can be structured (social investment can unlock other funding) and I ask what exactly a Social Impact Bond is and how can it support the delivery of public services.
I am particularly interested in how we can encourage radical ideas in public services, so Nick and I get into some detail on how social investors can support new ideas and the role of government in encouraging (and funding) the early stages of the innovation journey.
I hope you enjoy it.
NB - In the pod, Nick mentions that one of their investors is a social enterprise - its Fusion21 (www.fusion21.co.uk) and they do a lot of interesting stuff.
This episode is with Charlotte Pickles, the Director of the think tank Reform – and it is an absolute cracker.
I want to spend more time talking to leaders of think tanks as they play such a huge role in our policy development process. The ideas that end up in political party manifestos don’t just materialise out of thin air. It’s important that public servants understand how think tanks influence - and also how they can be influenced.
Charlie and I discuss radical devolution of funding and accountability in health and care and the fact that it should be ok for different areas to do different things based on what they need. We also talk about the machinery of central government and how to encourage a higher tolerance of risk and more long-term thinking (although short term thinking is usually driven by politicians!).
There is a very interesting bit of the conversation where we talk about local government and Combined Authorities being the ideal place to test new ideas.
I also ask Charlie to help public servants understand what this government is trying to achieve and how they should interpret it.
I loved this conversation and I hope you do too.
This conversation is with Alison Hopkins, Chief Executive of Accelerate CIC, an organisation which provides lymphoedema and wound care services in the north-east of London.
There is a lot of talk in the healthcare sector about shifting resources from treatment to prevention and this is a fantastic case study. Alison describes in detail how the team at Accelerate have taken the initiative to provide early support to prevent the need for long-term expensive care wherever possible.
Alison is very honest about what it has been like to lead a small health organisation over the past two years of the pandemic whilst also trying to find their place in the new Integrated Care System.
We talk a lot about balance e.g. finding the right balance between projecting confidence but also being secure enough to be vulnerable - and also finding the right balance between running a sustainable organisation and pursuing a “mission”.
Enjoy it!
This episode is with Emily Miles, Chief Executive of the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Before that Emily held a number of very senior central government positions in DEFRA, Home Office and Cabinet Office.
As you can imagine it is a very wide-ranging discussion. We talk about the role of the FSA (and yes we do mention Brexit and the impact that has had as well as the opportunity to create policy from first principles).
Emily offers fantastic insight on what makes a successful “bridge” between central government policy making and local delivery. The FSA sits very firmly on that bridge in terms of supporting the implementation of national policy and also supporting local councils in their day-to-day work.
My favourite part of the interview is when Emily talks about leadership and the importance of honest, authentic leadership and being yourself! She also highlights the importance of being open to making mistakes and how this is an essential part of the journey towards personal and organisational progress.
Enjoy it!
This episode is with Jo Pritchard OBE. Jo is Director of health and social care at Social Enterprise UK. Before that she founded Central Surrey Health, one of the very first public service mutuals to “spin out” of the public sector back in 2006.
This is a very wide ranging and hugely informative conversation starting with the journey towards setting up Central Surrey Health - why employee ownership was a good thing and why Jo thinks it’s still a fantastic model for public services.
We also discuss the current health and social care reforms - what do they mean for the system and are the reforms going to be positive for service users and staff?
We also discuss social value, particularly when the public sector is procuring services, and also what it is to be a public service entrepreneur!
I hope you enjoy it.
I am a big fan of libraries and in particular the “modern library” and the positive role it can play as an institution in our communities and in supporting critical public services. So, I am delighted that this episode is with Isobel Hunter, the Chief Executive of Libraries Connected, the Arts Council England funded umbrella organisation for libraries in the UK.
A casual observer (basing their views solely on media reports) could be forgiven for thinking libraries are in a state of terminal decline - but this is absolutely not the case. Isobel and I discuss the evolving role of libraries from simple book lender to community hub providing a much wider range of support. We also discuss how libraries are playing an important role in high profile government agendas such as Levelling Up, family hubs and the drive for digital inclusion.
Finally, we talk about Libraries connected role as the bridge between central government and libraries on the front line. Libraries have a lot of supporters within parliament and from this discussion it’s not hard to see why. I hope you enjoy it and can appreciate the role libraries play in our public life.
This episode is with Henry Kippin. Those of you who follow public service reform closely will know exactly who Henry is. He is the Managing Director of the North of Tyne Combined Authority having previously held a senior public service reform role in the West Midlands. Henry is one of the few people who has held senior roles at two different Combined Authorities.
As you can imagine, we have a wide-ranging conversation including: the purpose of combined authorities and how it shouldn’t just be another layer of government doing “stuff”; scale versus community led action and what the best way to achieve this is; and we also talk about what levelling up should really mean and who should be involved.
Henry also explains the concept of having a “foxes nose” and the importance of looking ahead and anticipating what is coming round the corner.
I hope you enjoy it!
This episode is with Kathy Evans and it is fascinating and timely.
Kathy is the Chief Executive of Children England which is the membership organisation for third sector organisations delivering children’s services. They are also a very effective campaigning organisation.
The conversation is in two parts. The first is almost like a “how to” guide in executing a campaign to encourage Government to change direction on a particular policy. The policy we use as an example was a move to allow the private provision of child protection services. Kathy goes into detail on how the campaign to restrict the outsourcing of this to third sector organisations was constructed and executed.
The second part of the conversation is about children and we talk about the impact of Covid-19 and how the pandemic has exacerbated a lot of the challenges that already existed. We also talk about the engagement Children England have carried out with young people and there are some very valuable insights into how the younger generation view public services and what is important to them.
This is a must for anyone thinking of designing and implementing public policy.
On this episode I speak with Mel Pickup, Chief Executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust, which is part of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Integrated Care System. I have already spoken with Rob Webster, the ICS Chief Exec Lead, so it is was very interesting to get Mel’s perspective as well.
Mel is also the lead for the Bradford District and Craven “Place Based Partnership” which covers everything to do with health and wellbeing and involves collaboration between the NHS, councils and third/independent sector providers. We discuss how this works and what the evolving partnership has meant for the area’s response to Covid-19.
We discuss the changing nature of acute hospital care and some of the important cultural and operational changes which are encouraging everyone to work together to get people healthy and back in their communities.
I was really heartened by this conversation and if Mel’s approach and attitude is mirrored across the country then we might just see a significant step change in how the NHS works in partnership with other public services…
This episode is with Dr. Simon Kaye, Senior Researcher at New Local, an independent think tank and network of councils, with a mission to transform public services and unlock community power.
At the time of publication, we had just had the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester and the focus was on the ideas of “levelling up”, devolution and the right way to empower local areas and communities to rejuvenate after decades of post-industrial decline.
This is where Simon comes in. He is an expert in the work of Elinor Ostrom, a political economist who specialised in localism and whose thinking provides the intellectual framework for the levelling up/devolution debate.
Ostrom was the first woman to ever win the Nobel Prize for Economics, entirely because before (and even during) her time women were actively discouraged from studying things like economics.
Simon and I discuss how Ostrom’s thinking can be applied to how resources are best used, how devolving decisions down to communities can improve public services and also help tackle existential challenges like climate change.
It’s a fascinating and timely discussion which will be of huge interest to anyone grappling with the whole idea of levelling up and devolution!
This episode is with Baroness Philippa Stroud.
Philippa is the Chief Executive of the Legatum Institute, a think tank focused on supporting vulnerable people from poverty to prosperity. As Philippa’s title suggests she is not only a policy developer but also a legislator in the House of Lords.
Philippa spent time in government as a Special Adviser and worked on the development and implementation of Universal Credit. We talk about the lessons that were learned from that experience. Philippa has been in the news recently arguing that the £20 rise in Universal Credit implemented last year should be made permanent.
Philippa’s background is incredibly interesting and rich. She spent 17 years on the front line supporting vulnerable people including time as a young person working with ex members of Triad gangs. We talk about Philippa’s work at the Legatum Institute and also as Chair of the Social Metrics Commission which has carried out some very important work on the most effective way to measure poverty.
Finally, we discuss her role in the House of Lords and the role of the House of Lords more generally.
It’s a fascinating discussion and I hope you enjoy it.
This episode is with Rob Webster. It is fascinating, inspiring and very timely.
In 2016, Rob took up the Chief Executive job at the South West Yorkshire Partnership FT, which is a mental health provider. At the same time, he became the Executive Lead on what was then the West Yorkshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP). Since then, Rob has seconded over to be the full time Chief Executive Lead on what is now the highly regarded West Yorkshire and Harrogate Integrated Care System (ICS).
The HSJ publishes a list of the top 50 NHS Chief Executives in the country and this year Rob was ranked number 1, which was the first time a leader from a mental health trust has been given that honour. The HSJ citation noted Rob’s commitment to staff wellbeing and working in partnership and we explore those areas in detail as well as discussing the challenge of health inequality.
We also talk about what is important when building a partnership across a wide geographic area and how they have managed to make such recognised progress in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. Is it good relationships? Is it good rules? Or is it a bit of both?
I hope you enjoy it!
This episode is a real treat!
Since 2014, Chris Naylor has been the Chief Executive of Barking and Dagenham Council – but for an eventful 10 months last year, he was seconded to Birmingham City Council as their interim Chief Executive.
Chris is highly regarded in local government circles and last year was named the MJ’s Chief Executive of the year.
In our conversation, Chris describes how he has worked with colleagues at Barking and Dagenham to deliver on three key priorities: inclusive economic growth which benefits everyone; moving public services away from responding to need towards supporting people before they reach crisis point; and on building trust between the council and residents (this is against a backdrop of residents having elected 12 BNP councillors in 2006).
We also talk about his time in Birmingham as the city responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and worked to address some systemic and structural challenges. Birmingham is a super-sized council (over 1m people) - so I take the opportunity to ask Chris for his thoughts on what the right size and scale of a council is.
It’s a hugely interesting and insightful conversation and I hope you enjoy it!
This episode is with Damian Allen, the Chief Executive of Doncaster Council.
As well as discussing Damian’s early life (he was homeless for a period of time as a child), the main topic of conversation is devolution. Doncaster was part of the successful devolution bid which resulted in the creation of the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. We talk about how that was achieved and how the “system” works.
The system theme continues as we discuss the creation of the Integrated Care System which involves the council working more closely with the NHS.
We also cover Doncaster itself and the exiting and ambitious plans Damian and his colleagues have for the town, with particular emphasis on environment (they have declared a climate and biodiversity emergency) and also on ensuring local people have the skills they need to thrive post Covid-19.
This conversation is with Donna Hall.
I was very excited about this one and it certainly does not disappoint! When I launched the podcast last year, I had people like Donna in mind and I am delighted that she agreed to do it.
Donna is best known from her time as Chief Executive of Wigan Council where she led the implementation of the Wigan Deal, which is a new way of thinking about local public services and building genuine partnerships with local people.
Among other things, Donna is now the Chair of Bolton NHS FT and she talks about how Bolton as a community responded to the Covid-19 Delta variant surge. There are some fascinating insights on how they pulled every lever available - not just the ones controlled by the public sector – in order to get the virus under control.
We also discuss how the end of covid-19 as a pandemic does not spell the end of pressure for the NHS, with a back log of operations to get through and also people coming forward with conditions that they have not reported over the past year.
Finally, we talk all things devolution, local government reorganisation and the relationship between central and local government.
Enjoy it!
This conversation is with Jane Lewington, the Chief Executive of Navigo, a Community Interest Company providing mental health services in Northeast Lincolnshire.
Jane started her NHS career as an A&E receptionist and has worked her way up to become Chief Executive of a number of NHS Trusts, and now Navigo.
Mental health as an issue has really shot up the agenda in recent times - but not many people know exactly how mental health services work, so Jane does a great job of breaking it down and explaining how it all fits together.
It’s a packed interview and we cover the latest NHS reforms, what they mean for local areas and what it means to be part of a “place” delivering public services.
We also have a frank discussion about the state of the nation in terms of mental health following the pandemic and the challenges that mental health services may face in the next couple of years. It’s probably the most objective and balanced conversation I have had about the trade off between lock down to curtail the spread of the virus and the impact this has on mental health and general well-being.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
This episode is with Andrew Burnell, the Group Chief Executive of City Health Care Partnership (CHCP). CHCP delivers community care, care home, pharmacy and primary care services in Hull East Riding and the North West of England.
I loved this interview. Andrew is a very authentic and natural leader. The picture here is of him in a suit - but you are equally likely to find him in nursing uniform on the front line working alongside staff as he has been recently delivering Covid vaccinations (and as he was on the day we spoke!).
Culture is hugely important at CHCP and we talk about the importance of trusting your team to do a good job and make good decisions and also the importance of being honest and straight with people no matter how difficult the conversation. This is a discipline we both feel has been lost somewhere along the line as people often avoid the tough conversations only to store up more difficult problems for later.
Andrew’s organisation is at the heart of the new Integrated Care System and we discus what that means, how the different organisations are working together and how the history of partnership in the area has given them a solid foundation.
Finally, Andrew was the founding Chief Executive of CHCP and we talk about the importance of succession planning and how important it is for an organisation to endure and thrive beyond the tenure of a well-established and charismatic leader.
This episode is with Ian Thomas, the Chief Executive of the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames.
The interview is in two parts:
A lot of the conversations I have had so far on the podcast have focused on “people” services (community care, social care etc.). The first part of today’s interview is all about what makes Kingston a really exciting and vibrant “place” – the public sector infrastructure needed, the commercial vibrancy and the inward investment needed and the importance of attractive and safe public places.
In the second part of the interview, we go back to Ian’s previous life as the Director of Children’s Services (DCS) in Rotherham. Rotherham was the scene of one of the most well know and horrific child sexual exploitation scandals this country has ever seen. Ian became DCS there in 2015 and worked with police and others to recover from this. Ian describes how this was achieved.
I really enjoyed this conversation with Ian and I hope you get as much from it as I did.
This week, the conversation is with Debbie Barnes, the Chief Executive of Lincolnshire County Council.
This episode is a bit different in that it is my Mutual Ventures colleague, David Fairhurst, asking the questions in the main interview segment - and I think he does a great job!
To be fair, he has an amazing guest. Debbie was formerly the Director of Children’s Services (DCS) in Lincolnshire before becoming Chief Executive. She talks about the children’s services improvement journey the council have been on and the very specific challenge of maintaining an “Outstanding” service. Lincolnshire plays an important role in supporting other councils to improve their children’s services and Debbie describes how that “symbiotic” relationship works.
It might surprise you to hear that progressing from DCS to Chief Executive is not a typical move and Debbie describes brilliantly what that was like for her and the challenges she faced.
Finally, Debbie also talks about the relationship between the council and health partners and how that has come to the fore during the pandemic.
This week’s episode is with Rachel Law, Chief Executive of PossAbilities, a Rochdale based social enterprise delivering adult social care services.
Rachel is an amazingly inspiring person who manages to combine authentic leadership instincts and behaviours with management skills and an eye for detail, which is pretty rare!
Rachel led the PossAbilities team as they “spun out” of Rochdale Council seven years ago and we discuss the reasons why they did this and the impact this has had on staff and the people who use their services.
Adult social care has been hit hard by Covid-19 and PossAbilities is no exception. Rachel describes how the service has responded and the changes she and her leadership team have had to make.
PossAbilities has grown impressively (by 200%) since it launched seven years ago and we talk about how that growth has happened and how the organisation is diversifying into investing in supported living accommodation.
Finally, the culture and sense of happiness at PossAbilities is really something to behold - so we try to unpick the key elements which make it such an inspiring place to be.
This episode is with John O’Brien, Chief Executive of London Councils, the “umbrella” organisation for the London Boroughs.
John explains how the different bodies in London (such as the Mayor, the GLA and individual councils) work with each other and with central government. He has worked with both Boris Johnson and Sadiq Khan and explains the different styles and ways of working of those administrations.
We also discuss how Covid-19 has impacted London and also what recovery and “levelling up” means for London. London is not set to benefit hugely from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund so we discuss the nuances of inequality and how it’s important to consider relative well-being when considering what a London lived-experience is.
Finally, we talk about the importance of peer-to-peer support and the importance of sharing learning and making time for self reflection, especially in times of crisis.
This episode is with Scott Darraugh, Chief Executive of Social AdVentures, a Salford based staff and community owned social enterprise delivering public health services.
I always leave a meeting with Scott with a list of exciting ideas and this conversation is no different. He really is one of life’s truly inspirational people.
Scott was one of the pioneers of the “public service mutual” movement which has seen a wide range of public services move from within the public sector to independent social enterprise/mutual models.
We talk about how this model benefits staff, service users and the wider local economy (the community own 50% of Social AdVentures). We also discuss the 10 year journey of Social AdVentures and how it has expanded and diversified and become an integral part of the public service landscape.
Scott is a big believer in public service teams having the freedom to innovate, make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes. We talk about safe and practical ways to implement this type of culture.
On this episode I speak to Ade Adetosoye - Chief Executive of the London Borough of Bromley.
We talk about Ade’s ideas for a new relationship between public services and communities and how the council can tap into and support efforts from individuals and organisations within communities. The experience of Covid-19 has accelerated these ideas.
We also get some great insights into how the council and the NHS has worked very closely together during the pandemic, perhaps foreshadowing the close partnership working set out in the new NHS White Paper.
Ade is a former Director of Childrens Services and he has serious concerns regarding the impact of Covid-19 on demand for children’s social care services. He believes it could triple.
Finally, Ade was recently Highly Commended in the MJ’s annual awards in the Chief Executive category. This was for his leadership of the Transforming Bromley programme which has seen Bromley’s children’s services improve dramatically and also turned a £32m budget deficit into a balanced budget. We discuss how that was achieved.
This episode is with Joanne Roney, the Chief Executive of Manchester City Council. It’s a fascinating discussion covering Manchester’s response to Covid-19 and the collective effort that will be needed from the city’s public services, businesses and communities to recover in a way that benefits everyone. This is particularly interesting in the context of Greater Manchester Joanne explains how the ten councils in GM work together with the elected Mayor and how that partnership has created resilience.
Joanne was only a few months into her tenure as Chief Executive when the Manchester Arena bombing occurred. We discuss the emotional and operational impact of this and how incredibly proud she is of how the city pulled together to deal with this terrible terrorist attack.
Manchester City Council is on the Times 100 top organisations to work for list. This is an incredible achievement and we talk about the cultural and organisational ingredients that were needed.
I was incredibly grateful to Joanne for giving up her time to do this podcast and for sharing her experiences and thoughts. I hope you enjoy it.
In many parts of the country, libraries have played a critical role in the response to Covid-19. Far from the traditional limited role of public book repository, many council library services are now vibrant community hubs combining physical meeting places with easily accessible digital resources.
On this episode, I speak to Bruce Leeke who is the Chief Executive of Suffolk Libraries. It was the first council library service in the country to move from in-house to an independent charity model. The service remains commissioned by the council - but Bruce and his team are also able to raise funding to provide a much wider range of support to people in Suffolk, including employment and business start up support.
As you would imagine, we talk specifically about how the service has supported local people in Suffolk through the Covid-19 pandemic, including some great examples of how library staff have really gone above and beyond to make life just that little bit better for someone.
And in something a little less expected, we discuss the leadership lessons front-line public services can take from the experience of a nuclear submarine Commander!
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
Monique Carayol is the Director of Strategy and Transformation at Hounslow and Richmond Community Healthcare, an NHS Trust providing the care which sits between your GP and hospital (such as community nursing).
At the time of recording we are still in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis - so key discussion topics include testing and vaccine roll out. As you can imagine, the past 10 months have been incredibly difficult for the Hounslow and Richmond team - so we talk about how it has impacted staff and the type of leadership which has been needed. Monique describes how remaining calm as a leader in a crisis like this is critical. There is so much noise and distraction that it would be very easy to become overwhelmed.
Dealing with uncertainty as a public service leader has always been challenging. Monique describes how accepting a level of uncertainty and being honest with staff about that has been key to building and maintaining trust. It’s ok not to know the exact answer to everything!
Finally, we discuss the future of the NHS and particularly collaborative neighbourhood based models, building on the rapid progress which has been achieved during the pandemic.
On this episode, I speak to Julie Taylor who is the Chief Executive of the Thomas Deacon Education Trust. This was such an interesting interview which provided real insight into the challenges of running a family of schools during the Covid-19 pandemic.
We cover everything from the rapid transition to remote/digital teaching to making sure that children (and their families) were getting well fed at home, which included having teachers out delivering food parcels.
We also discuss Julie’s thoughts on a more flexible model of schooling, which includes: finding the right mix of in person/ digital teaching; the time of day children of different ages are better ready to learn; and also the use of the school building itself – can it become more of a community hub?
This all comes down to the role of schools. Julie’s view is that they need to be about more than just exams, exams, exams…
This latest episode is a little different. Usually, I speak to operational public service leaders but this conversation is with one of the UK's leading public service reform thinkers, Prof. Sir Julian Le Grand from LSE.
In a very wide ranging conversation we talk about his time working with Tony Blair in Number 10 and whether there are any parallels to be drawn from his experience and what’s going on in Downing Street right now.
But we spend most of the time talking about the work Julian has been doing over lockdown on what he calls the “hybrid economy”. This is a new, more co-operative, social and local form of capitalism which focuses on the creation of organisations and companies with a strong focus on community as well as financial sustainability. I think this will be of great interest to both central government policy makers and local leaders as they look to plan recovery from Covid-19.
On this episode I speak to Lesley Hagger, the Executive Director of Childrens Services at Sandwell Council.
Lesley and her team have been on the front line during the pandemic and we get a remarkable glimpse into what a struggle it has been over the past nine months. Social workers have had to adapt (e.g. meeting in gardens and finding ways to engage with children and families whilst kitted out in PPE) and have found new ways to work with schools and other partners.
We discuss the award winning innovation Sandwell have put in place to support new arrival children into the school system, which involves preparing children for mainstream schooling in a specialist setting.
Sandwell was fortunate enough to have a strong voluntary and community sector in existence pre-pandemic and we discuss the importance of that in helping them respond quickly to the crisis.
Lesley also emphasises that whilst national and regional politicians have been slugging it out on television (my description not Lesley’s), national and local public servants have been working together to try to do what’s best for children and families.
I hope you enjoy it.
On this episode I speak to Alison Reid, the Chief Executive of Community Dental Services, which is a Community Interest Company based in Bedfordshire but in operation across the nation.
Firstly, if you thought dental services had almost entirely shut down during the Covid-19 period - then you would be wrong! Community dentistry, which is a referral only service providing for the most vulnerable was still very much in action and had to adapt at breakneck speed.
In this discussion Alison gives us a first had account of how a front-line health service has responded to the crisis and we take a deep dive in the leadership approach and culture at CDS. We also talk about how a specialist service like community dentistry finds its place in the new world of integrated care.
And… if you have ever wondered what it is like delivering dentistry services in a prison – then you will find out.
I hope you enjoy this conversation with Alison as much as I did.
On this episode I catch up with John Niland. John is the former Chief Executive of Provide, a Community Interest Company delivering community care services primarily in Essex but also across the country.
Every time I speak to John, I feel I understand what public services should be for and how they should be delivered a little bit better – and this conversation is no exception.
John talks about his career and how he became interested in health and care services. We talk about what it means to be a professional in the care industry and what really motivates people. We discuss organisational culture and how important it is to empower staff in a real way. And we also talk about how to make public services more entrepreneurial and less risk averse.
It’s a fascinating discussion with someone I regard as a true public service pioneer - and there are certainly plenty of lessons for us all.
Trevor Doughty is an extremely experienced and accomplished children’s services leader. He is currently the Director of children’s sector-led improvement at the Local Government Association. Before that Trevor was the Director of Childrens Services in Cornwall where he led the service from an OFSTED rating of Inadequate to Outstanding before retiring at the end of 2019.
We discuss the need for a strong set of core values to draw on when making tough decisions and Trevor is very honest and candid about what has worked and what hasn’t worked throughout his career. Every successful career has ups and downs!
We also talk about building the right team around you and what it’s like as a Director of Children’s Services when OFSTED arrive at the door.
There are a wide range of important leadership lessons which can be drawn from this conversation regardless of the sector you work in.
Enjoy it.
In this, the very first episode of Radical Reformers, I speak to Sophie Humphreys. Sophie is a Radical Reformer in the truest sense of the word. She is the co-founder of a number of innovative public service programmes which support extremely vulnerable and hard to reach people. That could be young people who have gotten into a re-offending cycle (WIT - Whatever It Takes) or women who have had multiple babies removed into care (https://www.pause.org.uk/).
Sophie’s overarching philosophy is that with the right intensive and skilled support those cycles can be broken.
If you are interested in designing public policy to help the most vulnerable or if you work closer to the front line and want some practical advice on how to implement programmes that work - then this episode is definitely for you.