Private sector trio appointed key property advisers to coalition
Sir Peter Gershon, Dr Martin Read and Tesco executive director Lucy Neville-Rolfe are to advise government on how to make property savings.
The Cabinet Office has today announced the appointments of the three as key advisers to its new Efficiency and Reform Group. It also announced that it was to merge the property functions of the Office of Government Commerce and the Shareholder Executive.
Gershon (pictured) is chairman of Tate & Lyle and advised the Conservative Party on property policy in the run-up to the general election; Dr Martin Read is a non-executive director of Invensys, Aegis and Lloyd’s of London, and is also a former Conservative adviser; and Lucy Neville-Rolfe is the executive director of retailer Tesco.
The three will be tasked with advising senior civil servants including the head of the government’s Property Unit, John McCready, on centrally managing the government estate.
McCready will remain at the Shareholder Executive, which is part of the Department for Business, Innovation, and SKills, and property functions at the OGC will be folded into the Property Unit.
His team will report jointly to the Minister for the Cabinet Office and to the chief secretary to the Treasury as part of the Efficiency and Reform Group.
Today’s announcement also includes the first clear demand from the coalition on McCready, who was appointed in December 2009, calling on his team to create a “central management model” for the ownership of government property.
In addition, it spells out the intention to impose a full-blown moratorium on new government leases, revealed by Public Property UK last month.
In March, Read made a series of recommendations about property as part of the Conservatives’ Public Sector Productivity Panel. He told the party they could vacate 10% of central government office space in this financial year. At the time, he said: “We should require 10% of office space to be vacated within a year, consolidating staff into fewer buildings, reducing running costs and freeing buildings for sale.”
Today, minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude said: “We want a slim but strong centre that can drive down the cost of government, so protecting as best we can the crucial front line services on which our citizens depend.
“The changes I am announcing today will bring together our operational capability to form a single strong but streamlined group to drive efficiency across Government. By taking this really tough stance on inefficiency and waste, we can tackle Britain’s massive budget deficit and bring order back to the country’s finances, whilst protecting vital frontline services.
“Our new board members will be critical in making this happen. Sir Peter Gershon, Lucy Neville-Rolfe and Martin Read have varied business expertise combined with deep understanding of the unique challenges of government.”
Sir Peter Gershon, who will lead on looking at procurement issues, said: “Whilst tackling the budget deficit is a challenge, I am convinced that by bringing experts together and harnessing the talents of the public sector we can start to make improvements immediately. We will need to be creative and innovative in order to make a real difference and look at new ways of working.”
Read, who has been reinstated to the government after advising the previous administration on back office savings under the Operational Efficiency Programme, said: “The long term health of the UK economy is critically dependent on securing value for money across the public sector.
“The Efficiency and Reform Group has a crucial role to play in ensuring that cost reduction becomes a fundamental management objective in the public sector and I look forward to supporting this initiative.”
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