Innovation number one priority for Northgate

Innovation is the number one priority for Northgate Public Services, says the company as it makes the first of a series of new year statements about its response to the fiscal deficit following a strategic review that ended last year.

The company announces today that it has streamlined its organisation and enhanced its top management team as part of its commitment to further strengthen its growing reputation as a partner in problem solving for public services.

Four Managing Directors have been appointed to spearhead the drive to improve public services at a time when they are under considerable social and financial pressure to reform.

The company is committed to delivering outcomes-based services for the public which promote citizen satisfaction and well-being. It believes that citizens must be involved and engaged in designing, shaping and delivering services and taking an active role in promoting their own wel- being to deliver public value in the long term.

Ian Blackhurst is appointed Managing Director for Sales. He is responsible for developing new and innovative forms of partnership with clients. The company has pioneered an innovative risk-reward scheme where fees are only paid if service improvements and cashable savings are delivered to clients. The company is committed to ensuring that far more organisations will benefit from this and other joint ventures over future years. Ian was formerly Managing Director of Public Safety.

Iain McLachlan is appointed Managing Director for Portfolio Management. He is directing a new team of more than a hundred people who will be responsible for horizon scanning, creating new ideas and working in partnership with clients to deliver forward-looking services which work with the public and not-for-profit organisations to build services that put individuals at the heart of their design. Prior to his appointment, Iain was Chief Operating Officer for Public Safety.

Joe Bradley is appointed Managing Director for Services Delivery. He is responsible for ensuring excellence in service delivery as the company increasingly takes on larger public services programmes. The company is establishing a national network of centres of excellence providing transformation services for public and not-for-profit organisations as part of its strategy to promote collaborative working between the public, private and not for profit sector. Joe was formerly Managing Director of Citizens Services.

Russell Osborne, formerly Managing Director for Citizen Solutions, has been appointed Managing Director for Product Delivery. He is responsible for delivering state of the art technology which promotes effective and efficient communications between service users, service commissioners and service providers. The company is poised to make further announcements this month about a new suite of solutions.

Dave Meaden, Chief Executive of Northgate Public Services, said: "All of us who believe that stronger services are not only necessary but desirable have to make change work. Innovation is at the heart of our response. We have created a stronger, unified organisation that will work as one team - one Northgate Public Services - with our clients and the wider public to deliver new ideas, new ways of working and new products that will respond to the challenges of the time."