Radical Reformers podcast

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 Chance...

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 u...

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 deci...

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...

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 tr...

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 a...

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-ter...

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 relationship...

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 imp...

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...

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 fo...

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...

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 provid...

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 fro...

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 ownershi...

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 vie...

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...

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...

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 every...

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 communitie...

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...

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 Executi...

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 w...

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 “s...

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 se...