Colin Cram has held senior positions in the public sector for the past 30 years, including central (including the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury) and local government, higher education and the wider public sector. He has been responsible throughout for initiating and implementing innovative strategies for procurement, shared services, outsourcings and organisational re-engineering. Savings from his initiatives exceed £1bn.

Colin has created and managed several pioneering joint and shared service procurement organisations, influencing spend of up to £7bn a year. He was a founder member of the Central Unit on Purchasing (the forerunner of the Office of Government Commerce), created and led the Research Councils' Procurement Organisation, the Benefits Agency Contracts Organisation and was First Director of the North Western Universities' Purchasing Consortium. Latterly, he was Director of the North West Centre of Excellence, creating and delivering collaborative opportunities in procurement and shared services for 47 local authorities.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, Colin has been appointed a senior adviser to the Office of Government Commerce and is a member of SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives). He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and training events, and is a regular contributor to professional journals. He has been a member of European working groups on procurement, innovation and sustainability. He runs a successful consultancy, Marc1 Ltd.


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Born in 1953, Francis Maude was educated at Abingdon School, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and the College of Law.

From 2005 to 2007, Francis served as Conservative Party Chairman before being appointed Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office and Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

In May 2010, he was appointed Minister for Cabinet Office and Paymaster General. He is responsible for delivering cross-government efficiencies and savings.

Presentation: Delivering a lean and efficient public sector

Maintaining high-quality public services requires a vigorous approach to working more efficiently. Techniques such as lean are fundamental to achieving this.

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Professor Zoe Radnor is Associate Dean and Professor of Operations Management at Cardiff Business School. Her area of interest is performance and process improvement in public services.

Zoe is currently a Management Practice Advanced Institute of Management (AIM) Fellow considering sustainability of lean in public services. Previously, she has been project manager of a research project for the Scottish Executive that evaluated how lean techniques were and could be used in the public sector.

She has also led evaluations of the implementation of lean and associated techniques in HM Revenue and Customs, HM Court Services and in healthcare organisations. Zoe is currently leading a research project SLIM, which aims to develop a strategic lean implementation methodology for hospitals.

She has published over 60 articles, book chapters and reports. Zoe presents, advises and sits on a number of boards and committees for organisations such as the Welsh Assembly Government, National Audit Office and the Cabinet Office.

Sarah Lethbridge joined Health and Services Team in the Lean Enterprise Research Centre in 2005. Since that time, she has worked on numerous lean projects in hospitals, universities and public and private services. She specialises in helping to develop the knowledge of continuous improvement teams and has worked with the Ministry of Justice's Lean Academy, their Shared Service Centre in Newport, the Value for Money team in the Home Office, Legal and General, Principality Building Society and most recently, Nestlé, to ensure that organisations approach lean in a holistic, sustainable way. My passion is to explore the interconnection of lean concepts and tools, helping people to understand how all of the lean ideas, support and inform each other, to bring about the pursuit of organisational perfection.

Presentation: A masterclass in lean

Lean is often misunderstood. It is not a magic formula and it should not be used unless the fundamentals are in place. This session will explain what lean is, the prerequisites for success, preparing to introduce lean, what it can be expected to achieve and how in practice it can be implemented.

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Cameron commenced his corporate career as a call centre advisor for a large Australian Bank. Working his way through Operations, Cameron has held positions as Team Leader, Workforce Planning Manager, Implementation Manager and Call Centre Manager before eventually working as an Improvement Consultant. He also has experience in designing front and back office outsourcing solutions for a major outsourcing supplier for private and public sector clients.

Having contracted through numerous consulting firms in the UK, Cameron founded Lean Consulting with the aim of providing high quality consultancy services at a cost effective price. Cameron further developed his Lean Six Sigma skills and has significant experience in delivering large scale Operational Excellence programmes across a range of sectors in the UK.

Cameron has experience in delivering real, tangible benefits in both the Public and Private Sectors.
Cameron has also designed Lean Six Sigma courses for clients, including the development of online training portals. He is committed to helping people achieve real, tangible benefits in any sector, by using their newly acquired Lean Six Sigma skills.

Presentation: Don't implement lean! (unless you're willing to tackle the following…)

Lean is a simple collection of tools and techniques that help an organisation improve all aspects of performance. It is the culmination of over 150 years of operational insight and excellence. It's not a complicated formula or a set of intricate activities, it's a simple and pragmatic understanding that has been continuously refined.

If it's so simple, why aren't more organisations talking about the success they've had with lean? Why is it that some organisations really struggle implementing lean, or fail to deliver the benefits that lean promises?

In this session we'll explore some of the common reasons why lean fails and what can be done to ensure lean is successfully deployed in your department or organisation.

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Martin Chown is the Director of Government Procurement Projects at the Government Procurement Service, working closely with the Government's Chief Procurement Officer and key procurement colleagues across Whitehall to provide commercial support and best value through effective procurement.

Martin has developed a career in procurement and general management with several blue chip private sector companies. He has experience and expertise in global procurement strategy and execution, business strategy, restructuring, and organisational development.

Martin has held varied senior level responsibilities in the Engineering, Automotive and Pharmaceutical sectors. His employers have included Perkins Engines, Toyota motor manufacturing, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Presentation: Transforming the Government Procurement Service through the application of lean

The Government Procurement Service has the triple task of substantially reducing its headcount whilst dramatically increasing its public sector business and delivering huge cash savings. Lean is a key means to achieve this and is proving a great success. This case study shows how, in a time of rapid change, through staff involvement in lean, one can deliver exceptional results and increased staff motivation.

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Lesley Doherty joined the NHS as a student nurse in 1976 and qualified as an SRN in 1979, moving on to undertake her Midwifery in 1980. Following her qualification as a RM in 1981 she specialised in neonatal care until moving into R&D and clinical and operational management in 1994. She first became a Director of Nursing in 1998 at Burnley Health Care a district general trust that also provided mental health and community services. In early 2003 she undertook a secondment to the Department of Health leading on nursing recruitment and retention, she was appointed to Bolton Hospitals NHS Trust as Director of Nursing later that year. In her role as Director of Nursing and Performance Improvement she carried out the day to day operational management and leadership for the Trust. The Trusts management ethos and aims are underpinned by the principles of Lean methodology. Lesley was appointed as Chief Executive of the Trust in October 2010.

Lesley has also held national roles as Chair of the Neonatal Nursing Association 1999/2002 , and the Northwest 'leadlight' for the National Nursing Leadership Project in 2002/3. She was a member of the Department of Health's National HCAI Prevention Advisory Group 2006/9 and recently one of the Clinical Advisors to the DH on the NHS Constitution.

Joy Furnival is a Chartered Engineer, starting her career with ICI and later ABB, she worked with external clients throughout the chemicals and petrochemicals sector across the globe delivering operational excellence and improvement services.

Joy joined the NHS in 2006, moving to the Royal Bolton Hospital in September 2008 to lead the innovative Bolton Improving Care System (BICS) based on the creative application of lean thinking within in healthcare to deliver transformation. Joy also leads the Trust's Programme Management Office. Joy is also a Health Foundation Fellow.

Presentation: Lean case studies in the NHS

The National Health Service has been one of the pioneers of lean in the public sector, both in individual hospitals and through clinical pathways. This session will explain the progress made in introducing lean, the lessons learned and their applicability to the rest of the public sector.

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Rhian Hamer is a change management expert, specialising in complex initiatives in large organisations. She is a highly experienced Continuous Improvement expert, with a background in Lean, Six Sigma and Systems Thinking.

Rhian joined the public sector six years ago, to follow an interest in tackling improvement challenges in high volume transactional environments like shared services. More recently she has been charged with embedding lean thinking and practice throughout the MoJ.

Rhian brings a wealth of private sector manufacturing experience to the role. Her varied background in operations, supply chain management and customer service has given her an all round understanding of the pressure and demands of leading in companies striving for World Class.

Rhian holds a first class degree in engineering and an MBA specialising in change management, with particular emphasis on sustainable change within the public sector. Her main interest is taking a whole systems approach.

Owen Jones began his research into Lean Improvement as one of the original research fellows at Cardiff University's Lean Enterprise Research Centre in the mid 1990s.

He has led value stream management research; consultancy and learning & development projects for a wide range of private organisations from a variety of sectors. He has also worked with a number of government departments, executive agencies and NDPBs to help improve their operational effectiveness.

Owen's primary area of interest is how policy driven organisations and public networks can develop and sustain cooperative behaviours that enable the practice of continuous improvement. For his latest research, an ethnographic study of The Determinants of Goal Congruence within a Public Network, Owen spent a year working within the Ministry of Justice. The findings of the project, funded by the EPSRC and Cardiff Business School, will be used to increase understanding of the ways that public organisations can deliver meaningful continuous improvement.

Presentation: Sustainable lean: delivering capability, practice and positive outcomes?

Sustaining lean in the public sector requires a balanced combination of capability, practice and positive outcomes. This session focuses on how the MoJ is overcoming challenges to develop meaningful Continuous Improvement activity in order to enhance public value.

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Phil Swan leads the innovation and improvement partnership iNetwork (www.i-network.org.uk).

Over the past decade he has worked with a wide range of local public services to transform support for communities and individuals. The work he led with the DWP on social care charging was included in the Welfare Reform Act and he is currently supporting effective design and implementation for several government initiatives. Phil's background is in business consulting, he has a Master's in Business Administration and is a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

As it says on his LGA Knowledge Hub profile: 'I am into service reform, collaboration, innovation, the power of networks and the hugely underrated value of information. This is what iNetwork is about too, which is handy.'

iNetwork is growing community of local public service officers who are passionate about improvement and innovation. It helps members through formal and informal networks enabling people to connect, engage government and push for change. There are now over 150 organisational members of iNetwork including NHS, councils, fire and rescue, and police bodies.

Phil tweets at @theinetwork and can be reached at [email protected]

Presentation: Introducing lean into local government

iNetwork is a local public service partnership hosted by Tameside Council and is at the forefront of training in more efficient ways of working for local government, the NHS, police and fire services and for parts of central government in the North West. In particular, it has a lead role in promoting lean and will be able to provide delegates with a practical understanding of what implementing lean entails.

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Paul Matthews was appointed Chief Executive of Monmouthshire County Council in May 2009 after leaving his post as Deputy Chief Executive and Strategic Director of Communities at Torfaen County Borough Council. Initially working in the Education sector, Paul held several senior posts including Deputy Director of Education at Torfaen. He is strongly committed to change and improvement in public services and retains a particular passion for education.

Paul has been instrumental in taking forward a radical change agenda at Monmouthshire County Council. He is a keen advocate of bringing focus to the things that matter, believing in doing better things, rather than just doing things better. An unashamed technology enthusiast, Paul champions the use of social media in his organisation. More than anything he tries to free his colleagues to bring everything they have to their work. Paul is the Lead Chief Executive for the 'Greater' Gwent area, representing other public sector organisations on the All Wales Public Service Board.

Aside from 20 years of service in local government, Paul is a qualified accountant having attained the ACCA qualification at the University of Wales College Newport before undertaking an M.P.A. qualification at Warwick University.

Presentation: Is lean enough?

Lean is not a silver bullet. It can as part of a cluster of activities, move organisations to a new state. Paul will talk about the place of lean in a radical programme playing out in Monmouthshire aimed at building contemporary relevance, legitimacy and viability with communities – view the wiki www.yc-yw.co.uk/.

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