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 are a lot of specific challenges in this work requiring the practitioners to bring all of their compassion, resilience and determination to the job. The “Bevan Bus”, a fully equipped mobile medical unit, is a great example of how you sometimes have to bring the service to the person. 

The Covid pandemic has not made this task any easier and Emma shares some of the wonderful stories of how people have been helped and supported to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives. 
We also talked about some of the innovations developed during Covid which the team at Bevan have maintained such as a greater focus on digital access to health and care as well as peer advocacy network. 

Finally, we talk about what motivates and drives Emma. It’s the all-important question of “why?” – why am I doing this? I loved the answer and I think you will too.

Radical Reformers ep.44: Emma Perry

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 about how you get started on an innovation journey – how do you choose the right service area to begin with? Mark has some great insight. To give you an idea of what we are talking about, Mark worked with the council tax collection team to change how they engaged with people who were in arears. The normal process would be to assess and eventually send in the bailiffs. Mark and the team turned this on its head and spent time engaging with people and families who owed the council money and finding out what the real issues were. 

A key learning from this is the importance of retaining context when delivering public services to vulnerable people. Often the aim seems to be to design the context out and try to achieve a one size fits all answer. This seldom works in practice. 

Finally, we touch on devolution and the exiting new developments in the North East – what does this mean for public service delivery.

Radical Reformers ep.46: Mark Smith

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 across Greater Manchester – so we discuss what it was like being "Manchester’s answer to Chris Witty" over the pandemic. 

Kate is an honorary professor at the University of Salford and in true educational form she treats us to an amazing and entertaining history lesson on public health from the original “fab four” in Liverpool (no not The Beatles!) through to an anecdote about the late Baroness Thatcher getting to grips with the finer details of sexual health. 

Finally, we touch on end-of-life care, a difficult subject which is often neglected but one which Kate cares about a lot.

Radical Reformers ep.47: Kate Ardern

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 power. They have a very advanced and mature model which includes significant achievements in transferring assets to communities. We get into some detail as to how that works.  There is a drive for transferring assets to community ownership and English councils could learn a lot from this Scottish exemplar.

Katie also talks about how East Ayrshire engages with third sector to deliver services. They have a rich history of supporting and trusting community based organisations – a trust which was repaid over the difficult pandemic years.

Finally, we discussed Katie’s history as a high level sports player and coach and how she has brought the lessons she learned from that experience to bear as a public sector leader.

Empowering Communities With Katie Kelly - Radical Reformers Podcast

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 situation in the UK including how self-sufficient (or not) we are as a nation, our reliance on “ultra processed” food and global commoditisation of food which is limiting the sustainability and resilience of our food supply chain, limiting biodiversity and driving the climate crisis. Food is something most of us take for granted – but we really shouldn’t. This is a crash course in what you need to know.

The challenges facing the rural economy are substantial – did you know that nearly half of all farmers earn less than £20k a year? The image of a rich farmer in the Range Rover does not represent the majority. 

Sue and I also discuss what a better future might look like with the idea of sustainable 15-minute communities playing a key role. 

On a lighter note, I think we get to the bottom of where Jeremy Clarkson got the idea for his “Clarkson’s Farm” TV show from. 

I learned more from this conversation than I think I have from any other episode. I hope you enjoy it and learn from it as I did.

The Food And Farming Economy With Sue Pritchard - Radical Reformers Podcast 1 0

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 learned and the network he built up during that crisis to deal with the more extreme (in terms of speed and numbers) Ukrainian crisis.  

Paul is multi-talented to say the least, so there are multiple dimensions to this conversation. He is now the Chief Executive of The Planning Inspectorate and part of our discussion is about helping listeners understand the context of the often very political public discourse on the number of houses we are building in the UK.

Finally, Paul is also a driving force of a group of radically minded public servants who gather to discuss public service reform and particularly how to break down barriers between departments and service areas and also between the public, private and third sector.  It’s a fascinating group and I have been lucky enough to participate in some of the sessions.

Homes for Ukraine with Paul Morrison - Radical Reformers Podcast 1 0

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” selves. 

This conversation is essentially a welcome takedown of the concept of “hero leadership” where you have to pretend to know the answers to everything and can’t let your authority be challenged. 
Brigid and I talk about relational leadership and how important trust is between leaders in public services and within teams. We are all humans trying to do our best and no amount of project plans and processes can eclipse the power of a trusting human connection. 

We talk about system leadership and how in the increasingly complex environment within which public services operate, no one leader can possibly know everything or control all the levers needed to achieve a good outcome. 

Finally, Brigid discusses in some detail how much of yourself and your personal life should you bring to work… not an easy one for many people and unsurprisingly there is no one size fits all answer.

Authentic Leadership with Brigid Russell - Radical Reformers Podcast 1 0

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 some fascinating research across the country and Adam relays some of the learning from that including what levelling up activity is happening in Barry – the home of TV hit Gavin and Stacey. 

Adam also discusses the concepts of levelling up fast and slow and what they mean (spoiler alert! you need both), how public investment and private investment need to work together and why some areas are very happy to be “commuter towns” and others aren’t. 

If levelling up isn’t your thing then we also find time to explore the impact of AI (particularly on public services), a new idea for national service, the importance of hydrogen to the net zero goal, and how patriotism has become a misunderstood concept.

Levelling Up Fast And Slow With Adam Hawksbee - Radical Reformers Podcast

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 leaders can continue to develop whilst operating in a state of “perma poly crisis”. This means both formal learning but also creating space for more informal reflection and thinking time – so important to support leaders to make good decisions and avoid burnout. 

We also talk about the state of local government sector more generally. There have obviously been some high-profile failures – but are these one-off cases or are the challenges more systemic and bubbling beneath the surface more broadly? We have a great discussion about this. 

And what about how the sector responds to failure? Graeme doesn’t think we have the balance between central intervention and sector led improvement quite right. It tends to be one or the other and Graeme argues there is scope for more of a blended approach.

I think you will agree that Graeme is a very thoughtful and considered interviewee and I learned a lot from this discussion and I hope you will too.

The Work Of Solace With Graeme MacDonald - Radical Reformers Podcast

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, how the financing works and the relationships needed with councils and other partners. 

Emma is an advocate for Passivhaus, which is a highly efficient and environmentally friendly building standard. She explains what this is and how it is achieved before going on to talk about the fascinating work of building biologists and how the way a house is designed and built influences health and wellbeing. 

We also discuss how building physical houses alone is not enough – the focus needs to be on building communities with the right social infrastructure in place such as access to green spaces, public services and schools etc. 

It’s not just housing Emma is interested in. She has also led the development of the UK’s first Passivhaus leisure centre which is a remarkable achievement given how energy inefficient leisure centres tend to be.

Radical Sustainable Housing With Emma Osmundsen - Radical Reformers Podcast

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Arwin Solaksono, shares his story of rebuilding Aceh, in Indonesia which was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. This tsunami affected 14 countries and killed 240,000 people, mostly Indonesians.  When he was invited by an aid agency to advise them in rebuilding Aceh, he was moved by the emptiness caused by the Tsunami. This changed Arwin’s career from an Engineer to a Shelter & Settlement Practitioner, now working Worldwide. Tsunami also brought a big change in the lives of people in Aceh who were living with conflict for over 29 years. It brought peace to the region as well and many aid agencies’ arrival impacted the culture, economy, and environment. Arwin shares his insights as an outsider in Aceh; as an Indonesian building their own expertise to tackle one disaster after another; and as an international advisor supporting rebuilding after the earthquakes in Nepal and Türkiye. Follow Arwin’s blogs http://www.humanitarian-development.org/

E3.Changes from an Indonesian disaster island to the rest of the world_Arwin Soelakson, Rumana Kabir

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 importance of having the right team and being able to do many things in parallel. Andy also talks about his transition to Chief Executive from Director of Children’s Services and the different mindset and skills that required. 

Birmingham is not the only Children’s trust in the country and Andy explains exactly what a Trust is and how it works to give a service space and protection from what might be a difficult Council environment. Anyone with an interest in Local Government will know that Birmingham is facing some severe challenges. 

A key attribute Andy demonstrates is perseverance. He talks about the critical importance of keeping showing up and keeping consistent messaging over time, particularly of you are asking people who have been on multiple failed improvement journeys to trust you and buy in to what you are trying to achieve. 

And finally, we talked about the role of children’s services in the wider system and in particular the key role council services play in achieving system objectives around children’s health and wellbeing.

Leading an Improvement Journey With Andy Couldrick - 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 support the Bromley By Bow centre provides, which ranges from health and wellbeing services, employment and skills support through to adult social care. The most impactful thing about the centre is the physical environment and culture which creates an “oasis” for local people to come to and get the help they need. 
 
The centre works closely with the NHS as well as council adult social care and public health services which gives Elly great insight into what’s working in the current system and what isn’t. We talk about the importance of the wider social determinants of health and how these are not yet prioritised by the formal system despite the impact they have on preventing demand for expensive NHS interventions.
 
Elly and I discuss about how leaders will often talk the talk on better collaboration - but often this doesn’t filter down to day-to-day activities and therefore organisations and services remain siloed and people seeking support see no real difference. 
 
A key element of effective collaboration has to be better data sharing which allows partners to target their support in the best possible way and to also track their impact. Unfortunately, this remains a difficult issue and is often left in the too difficult pile. 
 
Having said all this, Elly is remarkably optimistic and positive. Her mantra is “assume it’s possible!” and I think you will be inspired by this conversation.

The Wider Determinants Of Health With Elly De Decker - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Sam Plum, the inaugural Chief Executive of the new Westmorland and Furness Council. This council was created when Cumbria County Council split into two – so Westmorland and Furness has half the old County Council and the three districts, which used to sit in that geographical footprint.

This #RadicalReformers episode is part of the February "Place Leadership" theme of our #PrioritisingPublicServices campaign.

Sam gives her perspective on the different stages of implementing the change, starting with a period where the focus is on settling and stabilising. However, Sam has never lost sight of the forward vision and ensuring that the benefits of reorganisation are achieved for the people of Westmorland and Furness. Sam has some very clear ideas of what she wants to achieve in the long term, focusing on the three E's of equity, economy, and environment.

One of the really striking things for me in this conversation is how Sam sees herself as a “place” leader, not just the leader of an organisation. She is ready to focus on wider benefits rather than just those which directly impact the council. I think there are huge lessons to be drawn from this conversation for place leaders and council leaders everywhere.

Enjoy it!

Place Leadership With Sam Plum - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Sam Allen, the Chief Executive of the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System. 

This system covers a huge geography with 3.6m people living in both urban and rural settings in 14(!) different council areas. As you can imagine, getting this up and running was a real challenge and Sam explains how she has led that work and engaged with partners across the region. 

Sam understands really effective public services needs to be centred around the person and she has a very clear understanding of her role as a system leader focusing on the strategic things which are best done at scale while empowering places and neighbourhoods to do the really important locally focused work. 

A big segment of our conversation is on children’s health. We discuss how no one part of the system (NHS, councils, third sector) can hope to improve outcomes acting on their own. Genuine collaboration must be enabled from the system level all the way down to places and neighbourhoods. 

We also talk about women’s health and the importance of raising awareness and understanding particularly in the workplace. 

It’s a fantastic conversation and I hope you enjoy it.

System Leadership For Healthy Children And Families With Sam Allen - Radical Reformers Podcast

This episode is with Rob Walsh, the long standing Chief Executive of Northeast Lincolnshire Council. Rob has been Chief Exec of Northeast Lincolnshire for 10 years now which, in an era of quite high turnover for top local government jobs, is quite some achievement! 

Rob tells the story of how Northeast Lincolnshire is an area which has seen decline in the fishing industry - but is now embracing a new era of possibility around the decarbonisation and renewable energy market. Northeast Lincolnshire is a fantastic case study for Place Leadership: It was the first time to receive a Town Deal back in 2018; It has a long-standing section 75 agreement, which is essentially a way of pooling funding and resources between councils and the health system; and they are also part of proposal for a Greater Lincolnshire Mayoral Combined Authority. 

On top of that, within Northeast Lincolnshire itself, there's quite a lot of co-terminosity between some of the key anchor institutions, the council, and some of the key health providers, who are largely social enterprises. 

Rob is a very humble and quietly inspiring leader. And in my opinion, there is something quite special happening in Northeast Lincolnshire. I think they are quietly becoming a forerunner for what other areas in the country could aspire to.

Stronger Economies And Stronger Communities With Rob Walsh - Radical Reformers Podcast

Listen to remarkable stories from changemakers, in disasters and development. Their stories of courage and persistence will spark fire in you!
MARS stands for Motivations, Actions, Reflections and Sustainability. In each episode, we ask our guests,
1. What Motivates them to Act as changemakers?
2. What are their Reflections?
3. How do they Sustain themselves and or is their MARS mantra for a better world?

New tracks tagged #BuildBackBetter