Appendix 4: Details of the candidate
The candidate’s CV was provided by the Department to the Committee.
Sir Michael Barber
Experience and Achievements
Co-Chair Centre for Public Impact, Boston Consulting Group
2015 to date
Co-Chair of The Boston Consulting Group, not-for profit foundation, dedicated to improving the positive impact.
Founder and Chairman, Delivery Associates Ltd.
2013 to date
Heading up a team of Global Leaders in public sector strategy and implementation
Working with Governments worldwide to implement government reform and ensuring delivery.
Chief Education Advisor, Pearson PLC and Chairman of Pearson Affordable Learning Fund
2011 to date
Leading Pearson’s worldwide programme of research into education policy, efficacy and innovations in education and advising on the development of products and services that build on the research findings.
Leading Pearson’s strategy for education in the poorest sectors of the world, particularly in fast-growing developing economies
Leading and developing Pearson’s global efficacy strategy to improve outcomes for learners using all of Pearson’s products and services.
DfID’s Special Representative on Education in Pakistan
2009–2015
Overseeing radical and successful reform of the Punjab education system–visited Pakistan over 30 times.
Expert Partner, McKinsey and Company and Head of McKinsey’s Global Education Practice
2005–2011
Serving public sector clients including a major US city, two large US states, several UK government departments and agencies and governments of several other countries in Europe and Asia
Building the knowledge and capability of McKinsey’s global public sector practice
Promoting understanding of the principles of reform of the public sector around the world through publications and presentations
Offering advice to senior politicians and officials in a number of countries.
Main Achievements:
Leading the creation of McKinsey’s global education practice and serving governments on education reform in four continents (including a strategy for the State of Ohio), new approaches to leadership and development and accountability in the UK, an entire system redesign for a Middle East country and collaboration with the World Bank on Chile’s education reform
Founder of the US Education Delivery Institute, a not-for profit based in Washington DC with a mission to assist states in delivering successful education reform
Leading the creation of McKinsey’s Centre for Government Reform, assisting governments with delivering results in periods of austerity.
Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit and Chief Adviser to the Prime Minister on Delivery (in 2004–5 c. 40 people; £4 million operating budget; influence over impact of over £300 billion)
2001–2005
Advising the Prime Minister and reporting to him regularly on the implementation of reform and delivery of results across the key public services of Education, Health, Crime, Asylum and Transport
Ensuring that in each of those key public services, government departments put in place systems which resulted in delivery of significantly improved outcomes
Monitoring the progress of reform across the key public services and helping to solve problems as they emerge
Leading and managing the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit which involved an innovative combination of staff from public sector and business backgrounds.
Main Achievements:
Bringing a new consistency and clarity to the pursuit of the Prime Minister’s key priorities
Establishing a vision, creating a conceptual framework and designing a process which gave new urgency, focus and ambition to the government’s key public service reform priorities
Building effective relationships with the relevant ministers and senior officials, including a strong partnership with the Treasury, so that the vision of effective delivery became firmly established
Enabling rapid improvement in the planning, organisation and culture of delivery in four government departments
Contributing to real progress on delivery across health, education, crime, asylum and transport
Gaining international recognition for a major innovation in government–“This is the frontier”, IMF
Presenting the case for public service reform and delivery to public servants and periodically to the media.
Head of the Standards and Effectiveness Unit (SEU), Department of Education and Employment (DfEE) and Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State on School Standards (in 2000–1, c.300 people and £1 billion budget)
1997–2001
Advice to the Secretary of State on all aspects of schools policy
Responsibility for ensuring the implementation of the government’s ambitious school standards agenda, including successful national strategies for improving literacy and numeracy by age 11; an emerging strategy for Key Stage 3; vigorous policies for dealing with school failure; encouraging collaboration, individualisation, diversity and technological innovation in secondary schools, especially through Excellence in Cities and City Academies; designing and implementing policies to improve and sometimes contract out failing LEAs; implementing a range of means for disseminating and encouraging the adoption of best practice; contributing to the reform of professional development and the modernisation of the teaching profession
Public promotion of the government’s education policies
Creation of the SEU and leadership of its 300 or so staff, including many appointed from outside
Significant contribution to the modernisation of the policy process.
Main Achievements:
Leading role in the preparation of the 1997 White Paper Excellence in Schools and the 1998 Green Paper Teachers: Meeting the Challenge of Change
The successful implementation of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies from conception to powerful and positive impact on virtually every primary school classroom
Designing and implementing a successful approach to reducing school failure
The development and early implementation of policies designed to improve and diversify secondary education
Holding the vision for overall schools policy and contributing to policy development and implementation across the Schools Directorate
Preparation of the Green Paper Schools: Building on Success (February 2001) and planning its implementation.
Professor of Education and Dean of New Initiatives Institute of Education, University of London
1995–1997
Professor of Education, Keele University
1993–1995
Head of the Education and Equal Opportunities Department, National Union of Teachers (NUT)
1989–1993
Public Responsibilities
1986–1990 Councillor, London Borough of Hackney
1988–1989 Chair of shadow Local Education Authority, Hackney
1987 Parliamentary Candidate
Education
Queen’s College, Oxford, BA (Hons) Modern History (2nd class)
1974–1977
Georg-August Universität, Göttingen, Germany
1977–1978
Westminster College, Oxford, Post Graduate Certificate of Education
1978–1979
MA (Educational Management and Administration, University of London)
1988–1990 (part time)
Declarations of Interest
Sir Michael declared the following interests prior to interview:
Chief Education Advisor, Pearson - which he is due to leave by September 2017.3
University of Exeter, Governing Council - which he would give up if appointed.
Delivery Associates, a company in which his is the majority owner. It works with governments around the world to help them deliver outcomes for citizens. Sir Michael has agreed that Delivery Associates will not hold contracts with the Department for Education, BEIS or UK universities while Sir Michael is chair of OfS.
Mentat - a small start-up, based in San Francisco offering services to improve the employability of graduates, such as building the capacity of careers services at universities. The risk of real or perceived conflict is low as this is a US focused company.
3 Sir Michael indicated during the course of the pre-appointment hearing that he would stand down from his role at Pearson prior to appointment.
22 February 2017