08 August 2003
The personnel swaps between central and local government continued this week with Improvement and Development Agency deputy John O'Brien announcing his move to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
O'Brien, currently director of solutions, the IDA's peer review and improvement arm, will join the ODPM as director of local government practice in October.
He will oversee the department's work on improving council performance and will co-ordinate advice to ministers on intervening in failing authorities.
O'Brien will report directly to Neil Kinghan, the director general for local and regional government, who was director of economic and environmental policy at the Local Government Association until four months ago.
The move will mean two of the top civil servants in the ODPM's local and regional government unit have long-standing records in local government.
O'Brien joined the IDA in 1999 and has run the agency's peer review, the Local Government Improvement Programme, part of which has now been incorporated into Comprehensive Performance Assessments for district councils.
He was also acting executive director for nine months in 2002 when founding chief Mel Usher left on health grounds.
O'Brien will leave after a short handover to new executive director Lucy de Groot, who joins in September from the Treasury. The current incumbent, Steve Bundred, is leaving after just seven months in the job to take the top post at the Audit Commission.
Sally Powell, IDA vice chair, said: 'John takes the credit for helping build the excellent platform that we now have for supporting councils in a range of ways.'
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