PF Top 50 Trailblazers

TRAILBLAZERS2015 the

PublicFinance TOP 50

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Our list is not ranked from fi rst to last and nobody in our Top 50 put themselves forward in the hope of winning an award. Instead, Public Finance sought out nominations, asking readers to name individuals who had inspired them or who might provide an example from which others could learn. We received a great many nominations from a broad spread of people, and I would like to thank everyone who provided suggestions.

I would also like to off er heartfelt thanks to our panel of judges, named below, who gave up their time to assess nominations and shared their wisdom in the tricky task of deciding who to include. Commerce Decisions kindly provided an online platform to coordinate this task.

We might easily have published a list twice as long. To those who diligently provided information in support of their nomination but have ultimately not been included, I can only apologise and hope for better news next year.

After all, few pioneers are content to stop and settle down after clearing their fi rst hurdle. As our Top 50 makes plain, the drive to make a diff erence tends to be a long-term calling. ●

his document profi les 50 outstanding individuals who have one thing in common – they are all champions at driving change for the better.

In drawing up our Top 50 we have not attempted to identify the most infl uential fi gures in public fi nance today, though many on our list are very widely respected. Nor have we chosen the 50 most powerful people, though many can command substantial resources. Th ey are all, however, trailblazers of one kind or another.

Th is year, CIPFA and Public Finance aim to celebrate and publicise the business of trailblazing because it has become such an important skill. If the public sector is to continue doing more with less, then role models adept at achieving this diffi cult goal are increasingly required.

Our Top 50 Trailblazers are all extraordinary pioneers, possessed of the determination, diligence and professional creativity needed to do things diff erently.

F O R E W O R D

L E M B I N G L E YContent development director,Public Finance

In praise of pioneers

TTh e past few years have seen enormous pressures applied to the public sector, but many individuals have responded by dramatically raising their sights

Aileen Murphie

Director, DCLG & Local government value for money,National Audit Offi ce

Rob Whiteman

Chief Executive, CIPFA

David Allen

Deputy Head of Government Finance, HM Treasury

Ken Lee

Chair, CIPFA Local Authorities Housing Panel

Stephen Hughes

Interim Executive Director, LGA and former CEO, Birmingham City Council

Mark Knight

Chief Executive, HFMA

T H E J U D G E ST E C H N O L O G Y P A R T N E R

APRIL 2015 PublicFinance 3


argaret Hodge has seized the Public Accounts Committee leadership with determination and quickly developed a knack for asking questions that people would

rather not answer. As a result she has become a strong and very visible champion of the taxpayer, possessed of great determination and drive.

Hodge has set a standard for rigour that future PAC chairs will surely have to follow. She has been fearless in her pursuit of muddling bureaucracy and ingrained complacency with a very clear and explicit focus on reducing waste in public expenditure. Her work on the tax gap has been groundbreaking and is underpinned by a clear sense of what is morally right rather than what is technically legal.

Th e fact that her approach has been the subject of complaints by permanent secretaries perhaps underlines how eff ective she is. She is highly intelligent, hardworking, vastly experienced in the public service and a great proponent for Parliament. She has also shaken up the National Audit Offi ce and reminded it who its key stakeholder is, making it much more effi cient and eff ective.

MARGARETHODGECHAIR, PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE

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4 PublicFinance APRIL 2015


SIR AMYAS MORSE understood very early on that the scale of the budget reductions necessary to bring down the annual defi cit in the public fi nances required signifi cant transformation in the way public services are delivered.

When it comes to challenging the status quo there are few more enthusiastic cage rattlers than CIPFA’s indomitable Rob Whiteman. His clarity of thinking, determination to improve outcomes and passion for innovation are being deployed for the benefi t of public services across the UK.

Since joining CIPFA from the Home Offi ce in 2013, Whiteman has driven initiatives such as the establishment of the Independent Commission on Local Government Finance, calling for a cleanup of local authority fi nance. As chair of audit at two London NHS Trusts and and an FE college he has initiated CIPFA’s technical work to map local expenditure, advocating a whole systems approach now materialising in Manchester’s devolution.

SIR NICHOLAS MACPHERSON has led the implementation of the government’s defi cit reduction programme in this parliament, which is the largest contraction attempted since the Second World War.

As well as managing the reduction in public spending through two spending reviews in 2010 and 2013, Macpherson also played a key role in the referendum campaign on Scottish independence; he published the Treasury’s advice to ministers that a currency union between an independent Scotland and the rest of the UK would not be recommended as the continuing UK would be at risk of providing taxpayer support to the Scottish fi nancial sector and to an independent Scottish Government itself.

ROB WHITEMANCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CIPFA

SIR AMYAS MORSECOMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL, NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE

SIR NICHOLAS MACPHERSONPERMANENT SECRETARY, HM TREASURY

He has consistently advocated service transformation based on high-quality fi nancial information and evidence rather than traditional budget-cutting methods as the only route to maintaining high-quality and sustainable public services.

Photo: Photoshot

D E B A T E S H A P E R S publicfi nance.co.uk/top50



VAUGHAN THOMAS HAS LED the Wales Audit Offi ce since 2010, overseeing the annual audit of over £20bn of taxpayers’ money. A self-styled ‘critical friend’ of the public sector in Wales, he says his priorities are to make public services more resilient and fi t for the future. Recent reports have highlighted the impact of the bedroom tax on Welsh citizens and a deterioration in the quality and accuracy of local government accounts. Vaughan Th omas has not been afraid to speak out when required and, back in 2012, criticised proposals to reform the corporate governance of the WAO saying they risked compromising his independence as auditor general. Devolution of tax and borrowing powers to Wales and some radical plans to overhaul local government are likely to boost the profi le and impact of his role.

PROFESSOR TONY TRAVERS IS the man every journalist fi rst turns to when they need to have the complex and sometimes arcane matters of local government fi nance explained simply and clearly. But Travers is more than just a talking head and has advised both the House of Commons’ education and communities and local government select committees. More recently, he was a member of CIPFA and the Local Government Association’s Independent Commission on Local Government Finance. In 2012-13, he chaired the London Finance Commission, and is widely regarded as putting forward a workable model for further devolution in England.

At the DWP, Cheshire advised on the department’s business plan and provided advice on performance and operational issues. Cheshire was appointed to his current role in January 2015, where he will lead the group of non-executive directors from each Whitehall department in their work to drive forward the government’s effi ciency and reform plans, including changes to the civil service.

As Director of Financial Management Policy and then as Central Financial Controller at the New Zealand Treasury, Ball designed and implemented the government’s fi nancial management reform process, which led ultimately to the adoption of accruals-based accounts. An international thought leader on fi nancial reporting and fi nancial management issues, Ball was last year honoured with IFAC’s Gold Service award and has been named as one of the 50 most infl uential people in the accountancy profession.

TONY TRAVERSDIRECTOR OF LONDON GROUP,

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

SIR IAN CHESHIREGOVERNMENT LEAD NON-EXECUTIVE, DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS

IAN BALLCHAIR, CIPFAINTERNATIONAL

Professor Overman is trying to answer a fundamental question for local government – what kind of policies actually succeed in promoting growth? Without research focused on practical lessons, government will struggle to improve value for money, he argues.

Th e centre runs workshops with local bodies and delivery partners, as well as developing a toolkit to help policy-makers assess the cost-eff ectiveness of diff erent approaches.

Johnson is a commentator and infl uencer rather than a practitioner, but one who communicates the scale of the fi scal challenge with a powerful independent voice. He says developing the IFS has been a ‘continual challenge’, given that it has no endowment, does not off er consulting services and has no long-term secure funding. Nonetheless he has succeeded in extending the institute’s work in education as well as adding health.

HENRY OVERMANDIRECTOR, WHAT WORKS CENTRE FOR LOCAL ECONOMIC GROWTH

PAUL JOHNSONDIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR FISCAL STUDIES

HUW VAUGHAN THOMASAUDITOR GENERAL FOR WALES, WALES AUDIT OFFICE

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s chief secretary to the Treasury since 2010, Liberal Democrat politician Danny Alexander is second-in-command of the nation’s fi nances. He has presided over the coalition government’s long-

term defi cit reduction plan, skilfully driving the consolidation process via ‘quad’ meetings with the PM, deputy PM and the chancellor, and by his preparations for successive Spending Reviews and Budgets.

Alexander’s negotiating skills previously came to the fore when, as Nick Clegg’s chief of staff , he was pivotal in sealing the LibDem-Conservative coalition deal. An instinctive ‘Orange Book’ Liberal, he is economically and fi scally conservative, and has been resolutely determined to ‘clear up the mess’ he believes the previous Labour government left behind. However, he is also very committed to redistribution and fairness, and claims that raising the personal tax allowance to £10,000 has been one of his major achievements.

Although signed up to eliminating the structural defi cit by 2017/18, Alexander has recently warned that this cannot be done by public sector cuts alone.

DANNYALEXANDERCHIEF SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY, HM TREASURY

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As the fi rst-ever fi nance director at NHS England, Baumann has made a strong start. Completing an unqualifi ed set of accounts for 2013/14 was no mean feat. Leading the fi rst round of allocations to the 211 clinical commissioning groups was also a complex task.

Baumann is a champion of transparency, providing board members with detailed fi nancial information to aid decision making.

PAUL BAUMANNCHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER, NHS ENGLAND

JOHN SWINNEYDEPUTY FIRST MINISTER AND CABINET SECRETARY FOR FINANCE, CONSTITUTION AND ECONOMY, SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT

MARK LOWCOCKPERMANENT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

SIMON HAMILTON TOOK ON THE JOB OF NORTHERN IRELAND’S fi nance minister in 2013 and has made an energetic start, establishing a Public Sector Reform division within his department.

A qualifi ed auditor, Hamilton is also a reformer and a moderniser. He is a champion of the need to streamline the public sector in Northern Ireland and boost private enterprise. His leadership skills were tested last year when the Northern Ireland Budget deal came close to collapsing amid disagreements over welfare reform. But Hamilton helped to secure an additional £150m from the Treasury, most of which will be spent on education, and the Budget passed.

Agreement refl ected Northern Ireland’s ‘growing maturity’, Hamilton said. It is a maturity that is being recognised with devolution of corporation tax, which Hamilton has said will help transform Northern Ireland’s economy.

SIMON HAMILTONMINISTER OF FINANCE AND PERSONNEL, NORTHERN IRELAND ASSEMBLY

THE LONGEST-SERVING FINANCE minister since devolution, Swinney has been at the heart of the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce new taxes as part of a wide range of devolution proposals for Holyrood.

He has reached a number of landmarks in post, including introducing Scottish taxes on property – the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax – and waste – the Scottish Landfi ll Tax. In April, he will also oversee the introduction of a Scottish rate of income tax, under tax devolution already announced for Holyrood, and is likely to take a key role in ensuring the proposals from the Smith Commission are implemented, which will give the Scottish Government full control of all income tax.

Lowcock is bringing a focus on value for money to the UK’s aid spending. He may have been spared the major budget reductions infl icted on other Whitehall departments but has still been striving to bring down overheads. DFID’s work with auditors general and public accounts committees in African countries is ‘incredibly important’, he says, and a big driver of value for money. ©

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ane West has worked at the forefront of cross-border collaboration in local government. She has led the creation of tri- and bi-borough projects that have joined up Hammersmith & Fulham’s adult social care, public health and children’s services with the City of Westminster and Royal Borough of Kensington and

Chelsea, as well as environment services with RBKC. She says these collaborations will unlock annual savings of £48m across the three boroughs by 2017/18.

West has also led the three boroughs in a partnership with BT to implement a new fi nance and HR managed service. ‘Th e programme is on track to move our three legacy fi nance systems and three legacy HR systems onto one Agresso ERP system from 1 April 2015,’ she says. ‘Th e new system will allow managers in shared services to be able to view all their business units’ staffi ng and fi nancial data in one place, rather than having to log onto six systems.’

Tri-borough working currently encompasses treasury and pensions, internal audit, insurance and anti-fraud teams. ‘Beyond fi nance, I have also led on the combination of other corporate services. We are currently bringing together legal and ICT across the three boroughs,’ she notes.

West adds that the shared ERP system will give the three boroughs ‘an enormous capacity’ to improve decision making. ‘Once the system is fully operational, the next step will be to connect it to the business intelligence data we hold,’ she says. ‘Th is will enable managers to have a much clearer picture of what is being spent on what outcomes. In turn, this will make it much easier for politicians to compare and prioritise services.’

JANEWESTEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, LONDON BOROUGH OF HAMMERSMITH & FULHAM

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NAYLOR RECENTLY JOINED Barking & Dagenham Council as chief executive, moving from Barnet Council where he was second in command, serving as chief operating offi cer and fi nance director.

At Barnet, Naylor delivered the council’s sometimes controversial £72m savings programme, closing the £500m contracts outsourcing back-offi ce and regulatory functions. He also led attempts to redefi ne Barnet’s relationship with its citizens and make council processes more open and transparent.

‘Our aim was to build trust and persuade residents that in our preparation for the next wave of fi scal consolidation, we’re “on their side” and have proposals that are demonstrably fair and support their ability to survive and thrive as the state withdraws,’ he says.

At Barking &

White’s experience of working across government made her uniquely placed to be the key force in the Treasury when undertaking the coalition’s fi nancial management review.

Her impressive experience is acknowledged to have brought an openness to the Treasury and the review, which she conducted with Richard Douglas, the director general of fi nance at the Department of Health. Among the review’s recommendations was a call for departments to be given greater responsibility for areas of expenditure currently controlled by the centre, such as large procurement decisions and redundancy schemes.

White’s cross-Whitehall perspective, rare among senior fi gures in the fi nance ministry, also proved key in ensuring the review had credibility across departments. As she moves on from the Treasury to become chief executive of media regulator Ofcom, observers say her presence will be much missed in the centre of government.

THOMPSON WAS APPOINTED Permanent Secretary of the MoD in September 2012 after more than three years as the director general of fi nance. He is responsible for the strategy, performance, reform, organisation and the fi nances of the ministry. Th ompson says he is most proud of the transformation of the MoD through one of the largest organisational change programmes in Europe, including a sea change in the management of fi nance.

Th at overhaul included resolving the infamous £38bn ‘black hole’ in the defence budget, he notes, as well as maintaining a stable fi nancial position for three years whilst delivering over £4bn in effi ciency improvements.

SHARON WHITECHIEF EXECUTIVE DESIGNATE, OFCOM

CHRIS NAYLORCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, LONDON BOROUGH OF BARKING & DAGENHAM

JON THOMPSONPERMANENT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

Dagenham, Naylor will face challenges following a Local Government Association-led peer review which highlighted a lack of strong leadership in the borough. He looks to be continuing his commitment to transparency and openness in east London, beginning his tenure with an ‘open door’ invitation to staff to hear their concerns.

T R A N S F O R M E R S



STAFFORD IS STEERING THE Scottish Government through the most exciting period of a devolved administration in Scotland. Th e government will be transformed from a ‘spend only’ body to a tax raising body (with the fi rst Scottish national taxes for 308 years now set for 2015/16). Th is will be further increased in the future with income tax and borrowing powers as recommended by the Smith Commission.

ALYSON STAFFORDDIRECTOR GENERAL FINANCE, SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

DRUCKMAN HAS LED the adoption of integrated

reporting across the private sector and now the public sector too with

the launch of a pioneer network to promote integrated reporting

in governmental and public organisations. It includes the

World Bank, the UN Development Programme and the Welsh

Government. Integrated reporting aims to promote a more cohesive

and effi cient approach to corporate reporting, drawing together

factors that materially aff ect the ability of an organisation to create

value over time.

Allen has a key role in driving forward implementation of the government’s fi nancial management review.

Following the publication of the review in December 2013, Allen has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for reform. His ability to bring people together will be critical in realising the review’s vision for improved information on value for money in government spending.

Burns oversees an annual revenue budget of £1.2bn, a £500m capital programme and is treasurer of the £3.6bn Staff ordshire pension fund. A CIPFA member, he led the fi nancial transformation programme that delivered £150m of savings. He also chairs CIPFA’s Aligning Local Public Services working group, which is helping authorities join up services locally and better understand what is being spent in a local area.

PAUL DRUCKMANCHIEF EXECUTIVE,

INTERNATIONAL INTEGRATED REPORTING

COUNCIL

DAVID ALLENDEPUTY HEAD OF GOVERNMENT FINANCE PROFESSION, HM TREASURY

ANDREW BURNSDIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND RESOURCES, STAFFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

Leader since March 2012 and a council member since 2006, Roe has been instrumental in one of the highest-profi le innovations in local government in years – the London tri-borough initiative through which three authorities have shared both services and senior managers.

Th e scheme was intended to save as much as £70m across the authorities within fi ve years, and has been lauded by local government secretary Eric Pickles as ‘the future of local government’.

It has also survived a change in political control of Hammersmith & Fulham, although this led to calls for it to be more responsive to residents and open to others.

Kelly is responsible for the implementation of the government’s fi nancial management review, with responsibility for leading a drive to improve the fi nancial leadership across Whitehall. Kelly is also tasked with improving the alignment of processes and systems at the centre of government, to allow for better understanding of where spending reductions impact on more than one service area.

PHILIPPA ROELEADER OF THE COUNCIL, WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL

JULIAN KELLYDIRECTOR GENERAL OF PUBLIC SPENDING AND FINANCE, HM TREASURY

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publicfi nance.co.uk/top50T R A N S F O R M E R S



aroline Clarke was director of fi nance at the Homerton Hospital in Hackney when it gained foundation trust status in 2004, and she repeated the experience at Camden’s Royal Free Hospital in 2012. ‘Getting to foundation trust status unlocks the funding and

local-governing potential for NHS hospitals, and allows local energy to be directed to the right places,’ she says.

‘In the 21st century health service we are challenged by declining funding and a fragmentation of the welfare and health systems,’ Clarke explains. ‘Our job is to create an alternative future for our patients, which takes all this into account. So our biggest professional challenge is to integrate all this across various institutional boundaries and to create new systems and ways of working.’

Clarke has approached that integration challenge through teamwork. ‘Th ere’s a saying: leadership is knowing when not to be in charge,’ she says. ‘To forge genuine partnerships across systems that is important, and for fi nance professionals it is critical.

‘Sometimes we lead, sometimes we follow; critically we are always part of a bigger system.’

CAROLINECLARKECFO AND A DEPUTY CEO, ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL

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Beasley’s fi ve years at the MoJ have coincided with budget cuts from £9bn when the coalition government arrived to £6.8bn in 2014/15.

She also arrived to an NAO report that identifi ed failings in fi nancial management, understanding of costs and integration of systems and processes. Motivating a team still reeling from that verdict was no picnic.

‘My approach is to pick good people and empower them to deliver,’ Beasley says.

Th at approach was sorely tested in 2013, when MoJ suppliers Serco and 4GS were found to have substantially overcharged for electronic monitoring of off enders since 2005. Beasley says she is proud of ‘doing the right thing’, responding ‘openly and honestly’ to the discovery, despite the predictable outcry.

Beasley adds that as well

as getting to the bottom of the overbilling issues and leading the team that negotiated a settlement, she has also worked to address the shortcomings in contract arrangements uncovered as a result.

Before her current role, Beasley was the senior responsible offi cer for delivering one of the fi rst and most successful shared services within government: the HM Prison Service Shared Service Centre at Newport.

Allen has helped to build up the funding cocktail for the construction of the new Crossrail railway in the capital, which is now Europe’s largest construction project. Among the elements of the £14.8bn scheme, Allen has helmed the body’s fi nance function as it has issued bonds to supplement the funding from central government for the scheme, as well as when it levied supplementary business rates. He has also led the agreement of the £500m corporate loan facility with the European Investment Bank to fund the construction of the trains and maintenance depot for the new line.

Appointed in 2007, Allen was also involved in Transport for London’s acquisition of public-private partnership fi rm Tube Lines, which ended the controversial scheme to maintain and upgrade London’s underground network.

GLASGOW’S SUCCESSFUL Commonwealth Games required fi rst-class fi nancial management, a task that fell to Glasgow 2014 and its fi nance director, Ian Reid.

‘I was part of the management team throughout the startup phase, high-growth phase and dissolution phase,’ he says.

Alongside those inevitable changes in scale, the games also straddled the public and private sectors. ‘Despite having all the commercial challenges of raising more than £100m through ticketing, sponsorship, broadcast rights and merchandising, the organisation also received funding from the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council,’ Reid

says. ‘I therefore had to balance all the governance and transparency expectations of the public sector with the commercial challenges of maximising revenues.’

He says his most diffi cult task was dealing with the competing demands and disagreements between 60 diff erent areas of responsibility within the company. ‘Finding compromises was critical to delivery,’ he says.

Reid embedded fi nancial planners into each of the higher spending functional areas, to ensure they gained a thorough understanding of delivery and could challenge the operational teams with inside knowledge of what they were trying to achieve.

STEVE ALLENMANAGING DIRECTOR, FINANCE, TRANSPORT FOR LONDON

ANN BEASLEYDIRECTOR GENERAL OF FINANCE, MINISTRY OF JUSTICE

IAN REIDDIRECTOR OF FINANCE, GLASGOW 2014

E X E M P L A R S publicfi nance.co.uk/top50E X E M P L A R S



AFTER 33 YEARS WITH NEWCASTLE City Council, Woods has taken on a fresh challenge.

‘Th e main professional challenge involves creating opportunities to secure external funding, generate savings and manage cashfl ow to enable key initiatives to progress at pace, helping to build consensus among the seven councils that are part of the combined authority,’ he says.

Woods says his ‘can do’ approach is supportive and he champions change focused on securing improved outcomes for people in the region. ‘I have learned to recognise where I have weaknesses and need support, in particular to test out my thinking by creating an environment where alternative and more risk-averse views can be sought and taken on board,’ he adds.

ARRIVING AT OLDHAM COUNCIL AS borough treasurer in 2009, Mair helped transform one of the least punctual councils in England for fi nancial reporting into one of the best. When he arrived, the council was scraping within the September statutory limit for publishing audited accounts. Over the next fi ve years he drove a timetable for earlier completion such that audited accounts for 2013/14 were published on 28 May, fi rst among local authorities and as speedy as many FTSE 100 fi rms.

Now treasurer at Westminster, Mair faces diff erent issues. Challenges are ‘heavily magnifi ed’ by the higher profi le of the authority, its signifi cant place in the economy of London, and the huge gaps between the richest and poorest residents.

Hellard’s key challenge has been around fi nancial sustainability over the medium term in a world of increasing demand, huge ambition for the city and over 50% reduction in funding. Her response has been to gain approval for a three-year detailed balanced budget, giving stability to the city and its partners. She says that she has striven to combine a commercial approach with a public service ethos.

Orme leads the BIS-wide Corporate Services Executive and is responsible for all fi nance and commercial issues. He also chairs the Performance, Financial and Risk Committee. He leads work on BIS’s public body reform and the relationship and governance of BIS’s portfolio partner organisations including chairing the Corporate Services Portfolio Board and Senior Remuneration Oversight Committee.

STEVEN MAIRCITY TREASURER,

WESTMINSTER CITY COUNCIL

BECKY HELLARDDIRECTOR OF FINANCE & RESOURCES, LIVERPOOL CITY COUNCIL

HOWARD ORMEDIRECTOR GENERAL, FINANCE AND COMMERCIAL, DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION & SKILLS

Alexander is an outstanding public servant whose innovations at the NHS Trust Development Authority remain very much under the radar but are hugely signifi cant.

He has called for better collaboration and mutual understanding between the commissioner and provider sides of the NHS and, as one of the senior backers of the NHS Future Focused Finance initiative, is a champion of improved fi nance skills and a higher profi le for fi nance managers throughout the health service.

Driver has kept the DWP fi nances on the road and has been instrumental in fi nding a way forward on Universal Credit which is deliverable at least in the short term. Th e last NAO report on UC was noticeably warmer, partly due to Driver’s work. He has also done more on the resource account qualifi cation issues of fraud and error and has taken a new analytical approach towards them in an eff ort to reduce them.

BOB ALEXANDERDIRECTOR OF FINANCE, NHS TRUST DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

MIKE DRIVERFINANCE DIRECTOR GENERAL, DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS

PAUL WOODSCHIEF FINANCE OFFICER, NORTH EAST COMBINED AUTHORITY

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s chief executive of New Economy Manchester, Mike Emmerich has led a body that has helped transform his home city. Wholly owned by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, NEM acts as a think-tank and adviser, and was

instrumental in the region securing devolved powers last year.

‘Most of the things that local authorities have done for the sake of growing the economy have been bad economics and also bad fi nance,’ says Emmerich. He is particularly scornful of allocating funds ‘according to whose turn it is’, rather than by assessing needs and likely returns.

Changing that mindset has been a challenge. ‘Some of what needed to be said was too hard for anybody working in the city to say,’ he notes. ‘So using my experience of working at the Treasury, where I watched several independent reviews at close quarters, we set up our own.’ Th e result was the Manchester Economic Independent Review, a £1.4m study overseen by an independent panel. It provided the data to help guide subsequent investment decisions.

A balanced scorecard model was developed, Emmerich says. ‘It takes a Treasury Green Book appraisal and puts it alongside other factors in a balanced approach to help us prioritise which investments we should be making at Greater Manchester level.’ Crucially, he adds, the scorecard has enabled loans rather than grants in many cases. ‘It gave us the data needed to make quite fi ne-grained judgements about which programmes could sustain a loan rather than a grant.’

As a result, the ‘recycled funds’ obtained through loan repayments have made budgets stretch ‘two or three times’ further, Emmerich says.

MIKEEMMERICHCHIEF EXECUTIVE, NEW ECONOMY MANCHESTER

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ENTICOTT’S MOTIVATION FOR WORKING in social housing is stronger than most. In 1952 his grandfather died in a motorcycle accident. A hundred years earlier, his widow and off spring would have faced the workhouse, but instead the local council provided a three-bedroom home. ‘She brought up seven children there, with my father going on to get a First at Oxford University,’ Enticott relates.

‘At Derby, we have used the freedom that we have obtained from the reform of the Housing Revenue Account to invest in new homes,’ he explains. A wide range of measures are the result, including direct replacement in the HRA; community-led grants from the Homes and Communities Agency in partnership with a residents’ group; recycling RTB funding; direct purchases of new and old properties; and a joint venture between Derby City Council, Derby Homes and a major builder to regenerate the site of a former Rolls-Royce factory.

DAVID ENTICOTTDIRECTOR, DERBY HOMES

Th e Green Investment Bank is the fi rst investment vehicle of its kind in the world, a £3.8bn startup charged with

funding projects deemed too risky for the private sector alone. ‘Our job is to drive private sector investment in UK green energy infrastructure,’ says Kingsbury. ‘We are also

working to build an enduring institution which will, in time, move beyond public funding. To do that successfully

we have to combine a highly commercial ethos with the highest standards of public accountability.’ In its fi rst

two years the bank went from zero to £2bn invested in 40 projects, succeeding in attracting £3 of private money for

every £1 of public funding.

SOCIAL FINANCE IS A NON-PROFIT FIRM FOCUSED ON fi nding solutions for social problems. Eccles founded the organisation in 2007 and led work to establish the UK’s fi rst Social Impact Bonds.

Th e complexity of social issues is the biggest barrier Eccles and his team have to deal with. ‘Problems tend not to be well bounded; there is a great deal of data but fi nancial and social impact data rarely join up,’ he says. ‘Extracting insight and developing new models takes investment and time. Th is means doing the right thing in service transformation is diffi cult – in comparison to a simple but more damaging cost-cutting exercise.’

Eccles has pioneered an investment approach. It involves working closely with authorities to review case fi les, establish needs and outcomes, interview front-line staff and service users, and make the connection to costs. Th e aim is to understand the fi nancial and social consequences of policies. ‘Th e opportunity is to use this information to reform services, focusing for example on groups that have a high risk of future cost, and developing preventative interventions that would both improve their outcomes and reduce the overall cost to the public sector,’ Eccles explains.

SHAUN KINGSBURYCHIEF EXECUTIVE, GREEN INVESTMENT BANK

TOBY ECCLESDEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, SOCIAL FINANCE



MARK ORCHARD IS ONE OF the originators of and a driving force behind the Future-Focused Finance programme, which aims to encourage sustained improvement within fi nance functions across the whole of the NHS in England. He is the senior responsible offi cer for the FFF’s Foundations for Sustained Improvement action area, one of six key strands of the project.

In his role as fi nance director of NHS England (Wessex), Orchard is responsible for almost £5bn in funding across an area that is home to 2.7 million people.

MARK ORCHARDFINANCE DIRECTOR, NHS ENGLAND (WESSEX)

KITCHEN WAS APPOINTED MD AT Staff ordshire Commissioning Support Unit,

which has since merged with Shropshire, Herefordshire, Lancashire and Central

Birmingham to create a major new organisation on the NHS landscape. ‘In 2012

there were 152 primary care trusts with their own internal CSU; throughout 2013 and 2014

there were a series of mergers and challenges and now there are seven CSUs remaining,’ he

says. ‘I am extremely proud that we are one of the seven.’ Kitchen says his approach was

founded on the knowledge that he did not have all the answers: ‘I checked my vision with

local and national NHS system leaders; with emerging CCG leaders and with commercial

leaders – developing the right relationships in the right places has been invaluable.’

Hiller chairs the CIPFA Financial Management Panel and has been responsible for commissioning and overseeing many of CIPFA’s publications on innovation and new ways of working. ‘I’m proud of the panel developing the Financial Management Model, which has evolved from being a self assessment tool – which it can still be used as – into a standard for fi nancial management in central government,’ he says.

As with all other authorities, cost-cutting has been a major theme at Camden. ‘A traditional salami-slicing approach delivered £93m by 2014/15,’ says O’Donnell. But faced with another £70m gap, a diff erent method would have to be employed. Th e route taken was to cut across normal hierarchies to produce a three-year strategy focused on outcomes. ‘Th is put a lot of people – including me – outside their comfort zone,’ he says.

DEREK KITCHENMANAGING DIRECTOR,

MIDLANDS AND LANCASHIRE CSU

NIGEL HILLERDIRECTOR OF FINANCE, SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE

MIKE O’DONNELLDIRECTOR OF FINANCE, CAMDEN COUNCIL

Our judges described Shields as an outstanding innovator who has dedicated his life to public service. He was nominated for re-engineering business processes in major healthcare providers as well as for his leadership of the Effi cient Systems & Processes branch of the NHS’s Future-Focused Finance programme.

Shields says the FFF work has been one of his biggest professional challenges, setting out a persuasive vision for fi rst-class services that require investment in a time of austerity.

Grover is managing an innovative project to set up a Collective Investment Vehicle for London boroughs’ pension schemes. To date, 33 boroughs have agreed to back the venture, which aims to off er signifi cant cost savings and improved investment returns through economies of scale and access to alternative investments.

Our judges said: ‘Th e scheme is really ground-breaking, not just for the idea but for pulling it off .’

Grover says his approach consists of ‘asking lots of questions, listening to advice, learning very quickly and building the trust and confi dence of stakeholders’.

BILL SHIELDSCEO, ROYAL CORNWALL HOSPITALS NHS TRUST

HUGH GROVERPROGRAMME DIRECTOR, LONDON LGPS CIV, LONDON COUNCILS

publicfi nance.co.uk/top50I N N O V A T O R S



im O’Neill is best known for his expertise in emerging economies, having coined the term BRIC. In his role as leader of the City Growth Commission, he put the case for devolution to cities in England at the top of the economic agenda, after

its report found that additional powers for UK metro areas could boost the UK’s economy by as much as $60bn by 2030. Th e commission’s emphasis on increasing the powers of England’s northern cities – ManSheff LeedsPool as O’Neill called it – captured the attention of Chancellor George Osborne, whose initiative for a Northern Powerhouse boosted by improved transport links and expanded powers of research and skills incorporated many elements of the plan put forward by the group.

Following publication of the report last October, additional powers were granted to Manchester alongside the creation of a metro mayor and devolution of £6bn in NHS funding agreed. Th e impact of the commission is set to remain strong, as it has pledged to regroup in a year to measure progress and pledges after the election. ‘We don’t see mission unaccomplished,’ says O’Neill.

JIMO’NEILLCHAIR, CITIES GROWTH COMMISSION

J



PROFESSOR BERGMANN HAS CHAIRED the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board since 2010. During his tenure he has championed the wider adoption of IPSAS, helping to establish it as the benchmark for public sector reporting.

Bergmann has also driven innovation around the standard, leading work on the IPSAS Conceptual Framework and Recommended Practice Guidance for long-term fi scal sustainability and service reporting, catering for the public sector’s specifi c accounting needs.

Bergmann says the development of the Conceptual Framework was a signifi cant achievement, defi ning intangibles such as the objectives, scope, characteristics and defi nitions for fi nancial reporting.

Bergmann is also a professor and director of the School of Management at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

ANDREAS BERGMANNCHAIR, IPSASB

Warren has been central to innovative developments in fi nancial management which have kept New Zealand at the leading edge of governmental fi nancial management. Th ese

include the development of an Investment Statement, which points the way forward in managing the balance sheet for

a sovereign government and, as he outlined recently at the WCOA, the use of an insurance methodology to prioritise social spending, a development which enables fuller advantage to be taken of the fi nancial information available through a modern fi nancial information system. He has also pressed for the more

widespread adoption of accrual-based budgeting in government, for example at the 2014 OECD Accruals Seminar.

FAYEZ CHOUDHURY HAS KEPT UP THE INTERNATIONAL Federation of Accountants’ focus on public sector accounting standards. He has consistently championed the adoption of accruals-based accounting and International Public Sector Accounting Standards. He has said governments have a ‘moral obligation’ to ensure their accounts are reliable, a position exemplifi ed by the launch of the Accountability Now initiative.

Choudhury joined IFAC following a 25-year career with the World Bank.

KEN WARRENCHIEF ACCOUNTING ADVISOR,

NEW ZEALAND TREASURY

FAYEZ CHOUDHURYCHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF ACCOUNTANTS

Dacey is the chief accountant with the US Government Accountability Offi ce (GAO), a position he has held since 1991. He serves as an advisor and counsel to the US Comptroller General on accounting and auditing matters. Additionally, he led the fi rst and subsequent fi nancial audits of the consolidated fi nancial statements of the US government and other key federal agencies, and also developed fi nancial and information security audit processes. Dacey was a key participant in the initial development of the Citizen’s Guide to the Fiscal Year, which makes summary fi nancial information on the US federal government available to the US Congress and the public.

ROBERT DACEYCHIEF ACCOUNTANT, US GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

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publicfi nance.co.uk/top50G L O B A L G U R U S



The CIPFA Counter Fraud Centre’s qualification is accredited by the Counter Fraud Professional Accreditation Board and focuses on:

� economic crime

� creating an anti-fraud culture

� the collection and presentation of counter fraud intelligence and evidence, to a criminal law standard.

Visit cipfa.org/counterfraudtraining to find out more and search for course dates. Or contact the team on 020 7543 5600.

Join the fight to protect the public pound and become a CIPFA Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist.

Public services fraud costs the taxpayer

an estimated £21 billion a year


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