Radical Reformers podcast

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...

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 imp...

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...

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 gro...

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 it...

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...

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...

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 prof...

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 Debora...

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...

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, h...

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 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...

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 transfor...

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 s...

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...

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” sel...

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 le...

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 situatio...

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 po...

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...

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...

Reforming public services can feel like an impossible task, but there are pioneering free-thinking leaders out there who are radically transforming how local services are delivered. Mark Smith, Director of Public Service Reform at Gateshead Council, is one of these inspirational leaders and we were lucky enough to have him join Andrew Laird on the latest #RadicalReformers podcast episode. We talk...

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 bri...

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...