CIPFA North East 13th Annual Conference

William is CIPFA’s social care policy voice, and he runs the Social Care Network. His work focuses on social care reform, and he has produced thought leadership in the areas of charging reform, children’s social care reform, Scotland’s National Care Service, and social care funding. Before joining CIPFA, he was Social Care Finance Lead at the Scottish Government where he was involved in costing a range of social care reform policies stemming from the Independent Review of Adult Social Care. William attained a PhD in English Literature from the University of Glasgow and started studying accountancy during the final stages of his PhD.

Iain is CIPFA’s recently appointed Director of Public Financial Management and has over 20 years’ experience of working with the public sector. Having joined District Audit as a graduate trainee in 2002 Iain moved his way up to manager at the Audit Commission before joining Grant Thornton in 2012 where he progressed to director and became a key audit partner. Working with the public sector has always been a deliberate choice, during his career Iain has worked with local government, NHS and police bodies of varying size and complexity in both an audit and advisory capacity. He is well versed in the issues public finance and public services. At CIPFA Iain leads the teams in the key areas of policy, technical and standard setting.

Geoff has been with Norse since 2009, presiding over the company’s growth to a £360 million operation with a forward order book in excess of £2 billion. As a Group Director, Geoff has been instrumental in developing Norse’s groundbreaking joint venture model; the company now has JV partnerships with over twenty local authorities across the UK, ranging from property consultancy and FM to waste and highways. He has a wealth of knowledge in delivering services to local government and the wider public sector, and is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars. Geoff graduated with a classics degree from Birmingham University and worked for various FM providers in the South-East before moving to Norfolk and joining Norse.

Owen was appointed as CEO of CIPFA in July 2024. Prior to joining CIPFA he spent five years as Chief Executive of Hertfordshire County Council and three years as the council’s Executive Director of Resources and s151/Chief Finance Officer.

His time in local government followed an eight-year tenure in the Senior Civil Service, where he held Finance Director positions at the Home Office, HM Courts Service, and the Legal Aid Agency.

Owen began his professional career with PWC, spending 12 years in professional services working with a wide range of private and public sector clients and qualifying as a chartered accountant. In addition to his operational responsibilities at HCC, Owen was a member of his local system’s Integrated Care Board alongside NHS and voluntary sector partners.

Owen’s additional leadership roles also included terms as lead local authority Chief Executive for the East of England region and as Vice-Chair of the Association of County Chief Executives.

A nationally recognised authority on local government accounting, Peter has over 30 years of experience of providing advice on issues including:

• IFRS and code disclosure requirements
• capital finance and accounting
• investments and treasury management
• LGPS accounting
• service concessions and leasing

Peter spent seven years working in local authorities before moving across to external audit when he joined the Audit Commission in 1989. As a senior technical manager at the commission, he was instrumental in establishing their well-regarded technical helpdesk service. He left in 2012 to set up Worth Technical Accounting Solutions which provides bespoke consultancy services for local government clients. Combining on-site work with his role as a CIPFA associate and LAAP member ensures that Peter remains at the forefront of accounting developments nationally but in touch with current issues for practitioners.

Peter regularly delivers training and presentations to CIPFA, Audit Scotland and other professional bodies, and has worked with central government on a range of matters affecting local government finance. He has co-authored a number of CIPFA publications including Guidance Notes for Practitioners and the example Local Government Pension Fund accounts.