Alan held the post of Director of Education in two London local authorities.
Alan was Chief Executive of The Learning Trust (TLT) which delivered all of the statutory education services provided by Hackney Council. In that period 2002-12 Education in Hackney transformed from the worst in the England to one of the highest performing and now receives national recognition for its work.
Between 2006-16 Alan was the Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services in Hackney ensuring the implementing of the nationally acclaimed model of Reclaiming Social Work. Alan was national President of the Association of Directors of Children Services (ADCS) in 2014-15.
He was appointed by the Secretary of State to be a member of the Training and Development Agency for Teachers and was a member of the Advisory Group for the Education Funding Agency. Alan was asked by the Secretary of State for Education to review the arrangements for Children Social Care in Doncaster (2013) and Birmingham (2014) and has co authored reports with Professor Sir Julian Le Grand (LSE) proposing a new model of building capacity in the children social care sector by combining the work of the statutory, commercial and voluntary sectors.
In 2015 Alan was appointed as a Commissioner in the Tower Hamlets to take responsibility for corporate governance of the council. Alan is a member of the DfE’s Innovation Investment Programme Board. In January 2016 Alan was appointed to undertake a fundamental review of Local Children Safeguarding Boards including Serious Case Reviews and Child Death Overview Panels. Subsequently the legal framework covering these areas has been amended by an Act of Parliament to implement his recommendations.
In July 2016 the Lord Chancellor & Secretary of State for Justice appointed Alan to be Chair of the Youth Custody Improvement Board and to report on the quality of the provision being made in YOIs and STCs. In August 2016 Alan was appointed by the Secretary of State to Chair an Advisory Board to the DfE on the role of local authorities in providing services to children.
Alan is a Master’s level Executive Coach and coaches and mentored successful senior executives in the public, voluntary and commercial sectors. In 2011 Alan was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to education and local government.
