Ian Briggs is an HR and management development professional with over 30 years' experience in the private and public sectors. He has worked for many years in central and local government bodies, with a focus on HR processes and management and leadership development. Through his many years of consultancy, he is familiar with many different public and private sector organisations and their approaches to organisational development, organisational structure and human resources.

Ian's major interests are centred around leadership development processes, with over a quarter of a century in leading, designing and delivering national development programmes for senior managers in local government and the broader public sector. In support of the Top Managers Programme, Ian co-authored with R Mohoney the national guidance on action learning in support of the programmes, and has subsequently facilitated action learning approaches in a variety of settings and for various groups of managers, including those in the social care sector and for Chief Executives.

Currently, Ian is persuing an interest in linking our understanding of the development processes and its linkages to senior careers in local government. He is called upon to advise on senior appointments in local government. Current areas of interest are pursuing understanding of the new emergent leadership role in public services in light of significant macroeconomic changes and the interdependence with organisational development issues. He has a specialist interest in the interrelationships between political and occupational leadership and has contributed to international practice conferences on this issue.

In addition to the above, Ian currently takes the lead for INLOGOV on the expanding agenda around public service commerce through directorship of the MSc in Strategic Commissioning.


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Chris White is a chartered accountant and worked for many years in training. He became a county councillor in Hertfordshire in 1993 and group leader in 1994. He has served as a member of Hertfordshire Police Authority.

Chris became chair of the Local Government Association's Regeneration Board in 2004 and chair of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board in 2006. He is a member of the Nations and Regions Group of London 2012. He was elected Deputy Leader of the LGA Liberal Democrat Group in 2011.

He was on the board of the Audit Commission for six years until May 2011. He sits on the Liberal Democrats' Federal Executive and its Federal Policy Committee (and is currently chairing the Party's Working Group on Localism).

Presentation: Modernising public services: a flexible and community-led approach

Outlining how value for money can be achieved through establishing greater competition, freedoms and choice. Engaging with communities is vital to strengthen local accountability and meet the needs of local people quicker, smarter and in a more cost-efficient way. Local authorities are challenged with delivering value for money and ensuring more is achieved with less.

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David Parsons is Chair of the Environment and Housing Board, and an immediate past Chairman of LG Improvement & Development. He is leading the national agenda on community budgeting and procurement.

He has been Leader of Leicestershire County Council since May 2003. Under his leadership Leicestershire has twice been confirmed as a '4 star' authority and won the coveted LGC Award for 'Council of the Year' in 2009 – the first county council to do so. David is Chairman of East Midlands Councils. He is a full member of the UK Delegation to the Committee of the Regions of the European Union and a member of the Commission for Economic and Social Policy.

David was appointed CBE in the 2009 New Year Honours list for his services to local and regional government.

Presentation: Devolved budgets, responsibilities and powers: an opportunity not to be missed?

The localism agenda has set out irreversible change in how our public services are delivered and managed. Decision-making is being shifted from Whitehall to local authorities, stripping away the red tape and allowing councils to be more transparent and responsive to local communities. What will success look like for future public services and, given the budget challenges, can more innovative and flexible models be achieved at pace?

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Kevin took up his current role in September 2006 and has responsibility for all Post Office business with national and local government bodies,. This includes the new driving licence digital data capture service with the DVLA and the vitally important contract for Post Office Card Account. In his previous role he had responsibility for the relationships with all of Post Office Ltd's major financial services clients including the banks, NS&I and Government for the Post Office Card Account.

Previously he was involved in the set up of the Post Offices financial services venture with the Bank of Ireland, managing the interface with our Government shareholder and other key stakeholders. Before this he was one of the founders of the universal banking concept, working with the Banking industry and Government to launch universal banking services in April 2003.

Presentation: Modernising the Post Office – an exciting new future

With over 11,500 branches, the Post Office has a unique and valued place at the heart of every community. The Government is firmly committed to maintaining the network at its current size and ensuring there will be no further programme of Post Office closures. The substantial funding committed by the Government gives us the platform we need to modernise our network, ensuring customers have access to a modern, efficient Post Office at the times and locations convenient to them. A key part of our modernisation plan is for the Post Office to become a Front Office for Government, building on the long history of providing services on behalf of government, both central and local.

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Campbell McDonald is a Director at Baxi Partnership. The mission of the Baxi Partnership is to support the growth of strong, sustainable mutual and employee ownership. Baxi Partnership supports public and private sector organisations to transition into mutual or employee ownership, and are currently mentors to three of the Government's Pathfinder Mutuals. Campbell joined Baxi Partnership from Luther Pendragon where he led teams providing public policy and communications support to organisations in the mutuals sector, including the John Lewis Partnership, the Employee Ownership Association and Central Surrey Health. Other clients included the Department of Health, local authorities and large charities. Before that, Campbell was at the Cabinet Office for five years (including a secondment to the No10 Press Office), and left as Chief Press Officer and Press Secretary to Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP. Prior to working in Government, Campbell was a journalist for three years.

Presentation: Who shares wins?: Dispelling some myths about public sector mutuals

Why would anyone choose the public sector mutual model? A practically-driven examination of the risks and rewards involved, drawing on live examples of teams currently spinning out.

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Mike Durke has been the CEO of the Hill Community Development Trust and Co-ordinator of the Townhill Communities First programme since 2002. Prior to this he worked as a manager in the social and community work context for national and local government. He has studied and taught (social services, youth and community, strategic management) in Swansea's two universities since 1995 with postgraduate degrees in child welfare and business. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Mike's approach is fired by a belief in the ability of ordinary everyday people to make a powerful difference to the way public services are designed and delivered. Multiple deprivation places huge pressure on the public purse and blights the life chances of those people who live in particular geographical communities. If we can reduce deprivation then not only do we save significant amounts of public funding, but we also improve the life chances for local residents.

Presentation: Grass roots reform to meet citizens' needs

Discussing a practical business model for realigning public services to tackle the most expensive and knotty problems in deprived communities. Highlighting how to control the process of planning, implementing and measuring public services at the local level.

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Maurice Glasman is Director of the Faith and Citizenship Programme and senior lecturer in political theory at London Metropolitan University. He has, in partnership with Dr Luke Bretherton at King's College London, been awarded a three year Arts and Humanities Research Council Grant to study religion and politics in London. His research interests focus on the relationship between citizenship and faith and the limits of the market. He is an acknowledged international authority on the work of Karl Polanyi.

Lord Glasman was born in Walthamstow and went to JFS Comprehensive School and Cambridge University where he studied Modern History. From there he went to the University of York to do a Masters in Political Philosophy and did his Doctorate in the European University Institute in Florence. His Doctorate, Unnecessary Suffering, was published in 1996.

Presentation: The balance of interests in the corporate governance of service provision split by thirds between funders, workers and users.

Opening up public services to new providers has resulted in a sharp increase competition. To some this spells duplication, a race to the bottom and private companies squashing competitors. To others it means a diversity of supply, innovation, efficiency and choice. How do we ensure that the process allows for the best providers to flourish and we avoid the problems of the bad?

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Garath Symonds is the Assistant Director for Young People at Surrey County Council, where he is responsible for commissioning 16-19 education and training in increasing participation, youth services and youth justice. His professional background is in youth work, working predominately with vulnerable young people in the inner city. Before coming to Surrey he fulfilled a number of roles at the London Borough of Lambeth, including Head of Education Policy and Performance, YOT Manager and Director of Culture. Garath has a broad interest in the public sector and is currently leading a major transformation programme in Surrey. Earlier this year he gave evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee on the future of services for young people and is currently advising Kent County Council on how to reduce numbers of NEET young people. Garath is a regular blogger on the Guardian local government network, blogging on issues such as commissioning, Big Society and public sector reform.


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Camilla Child is Principal Consultant and Researcher at the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR). Over 20 years Camilla has worked extensively in and with the public sector including local government, health and social care, children's services and education, housing, community and voluntary sectors. She has also researched and worked on a variety of social policy-related issues such as social inclusion, young people and their risky behaviours, the role of public libraries, and more recently, preventing violent extremism. Together this provides a wealth of information to draw on to offer a whole-system and cross-boundary perspective. In her organisational consultancy, evaluation research and coaching practice, she helps organisations, teams and individuals learn and develop by using methods which help clients to gain a broader understanding of context, role and underlying dynamics. Camilla is active and interested in work which focuses on 'behaviour change', which includes both working with organizational and culture change in the public sector to develop services as well understanding and supporting change in citizen behaviour.


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Alex has more than a decade's experience as a policy maker both in government and in opposition. Prior to joining Localis in August 2010, Alex was the Conservative Party's specialist policy adviser for decentralisation and local government, leading on the development of the Party's policies on local government, housing and planning, and responsible for writing the Party's green papers 'Control Shift', 'Strong Foundations' and 'Open Source Planning'. Alex has also worked in central government for various departments including DCLG and Defra, and was part of Boris Johnson's successful Mayoral campaign team.

In his first year at the helm, Localis have held a number of successful and popular events, both public and private, as well as launching several acclaimed reports. In particular 'The Rate Escape', published in March 2011, outlined a model for the local retention of business rates which closely foreshadowed the Government's proposals, announced in July.


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Julian McCrae joined the Institute in July 2009. Prior to that, he was one of the Deputy Directors at the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, leading its work on social mobility, welfare policies and economics. While at the unit, among other things Julian led the process spanning 11 government departments that culminated in the 2009 New Opportunities White Paper, and ran Tony Blair's Fundamental Savings Review. His other experience in government includes two spells in the Treasury, and as a special adviser at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Julian started his career at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, where he spent eight years. His work there included numerous publications on the UK's personal taxation and welfare system. He also led the Institute's research programme on corporate taxation and business investment issues and taught public economics at University College London. Finally, Julian worked at Frontier Economics, one of the UK's leading economic consultancies, where he helped expand the public policy practice.

Presentation: Reforming Service Delivery in a Rapidly Changing World

The combination of the spending review, the rash of new central government policy initiatives and the recent Open Public Services white paper set a highly ambitious agenda for change. Julian McCrae will assess what this all means and examine what is working as well as what is not. Pulling this all together, he will sketch out some of the new challenges that are likely to arise in the next few years.

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