Peter is one of a team of strategic directors working within the city council to transform outcomes for Birmingham's residents. Peter's direct responsibilities include Adult Social Care, Adult Learning and coordinating the Health and Wellbeing Partnership.

From joining Birmingham in 2003, Peter has overseen major changes in residential and community provision of care. The council now offers individual budgets for all citizens receiving public funding alongside a growing emphasis on universal information, prevention and enablement.

Implementing real choice and control, alongside budget reductions and new arrangements with the NHS means that the council continues to reshape relationships with citizens, staff and providers. This includes some radically new approaches to meeting this challenge, including a full social work practice pilot, integration with NHS partners and investment in to prevention. Approaches (such as the social work practice pilot) and the development of integrated working with NHS partners.

Peter is the immediate Past President of ADASS for the year 2012/13, and continues to contribute to ADASS' work naturally. He is also Chair of Research in Practice for Adults (RIPFA).

In June 2012, Peter was awarded a CBE in the Queens Birthday Honours - the citation is for services to social and healthcare, and the role as president of ADASS.

Presentation: Improving care, improving quality of life

There are currently 800,000 sufferers of dementia in the UK, costing society over £23bn per annum, twice the cost of cancer. With a prediction of over a million sufferers by 2021, there is no denying the extent of the problem and the need for committed focus in tackling the issues. Sadly, people are still not living well with dementia. How can this be changed so that the quality of life of both sufferers and carers can be improved?

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Andrew Cozens CBE is a consultant specialising in social care and health policy and improvement. He most recently worked for the Local Government Association as Strategic Adviser, Children Adult & Health Services from 2006-2012 and spent 10 years prior to that as Director of Social Services for Gloucestershire and Leicester City Councils. He has also worked in the voluntary sector and now chairs Carers Trust, the largest charity working with carers which brought together the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care.


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Andrew Chidgey is Director of External Affairs at Alzheimer's Society leading a team that works to make dementia a high priority on the public and political agenda. Andrew has worked at Alzheimer's Society for over 10 years and has advised politicians, policymakers, the NHS and local authorities. He was the society's lead in working with the Department of Health to write the National Dementia Strategy and was also responsible for bringing together the Dementia Action Alliance. A frequent media spokesperson, he has written reports including The Dementia Tax and When does the NHS pay for care?


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Toby has worked at the foundation, a national research and development charity, since 2002. He is responsible for the foundation's programme on mental health issues in later life as well as issues affecting people with dementia. He has carried out several research and development projects that have involved getting the views and experiences of people with dementia and how issues such as personalisation may affect their lives. He has also lead on research, service improvement and policy work involving mental capacity issues, and co-chaired a national campaign for the introduction of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 in England and Wales. Prior to working at the foundation Toby worked in and managed adult mental health services. He has personal and family experience of mental health issues including dementia.


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