Ben is a public policy and communications entrepreneur, who has worked at the heart of the policy world for over three decades. After graduating from Liverpool University, his career started in trade union research, where he was the Head of Research and Communications for the construction union, UCATT. He then went on to become Jack Straw’s adviser during the formative years of New Labour. Following this he co-founded and became the Managing Director of LLM Communications, which went on to become the leading independent public affairs advisory firm in the UK.

He has had a long interest in public services and local government and has been involved in policy making and practice development at every level in the sector. This has included developing government policy, advising the LGA, working with several of the leading cities including Manchester on the Commonwealth Games, Liverpool on the European Capital of Culture, Nottingham on early intervention and Manchester and Birmingham on a new route map for localism. He was a founder and is now a Trustee of the think tank, the New Local Government Network, as well as being a non-executive director of the consultancy Shared Intelligence, and a member of the Public Interest Board of the Office of Public Management.

In 2008 he became founder Director of the 2020 Public Services Trust, which established a major cross party commission to look at the future of public services, and how they should respond to the demographic, social and financial pressures they face. The central recommendation of the Commission was that there needs to be a fundamental shift in public services towards social productivity, based on a new deal between citizens, society and the state which unlocks social value. Ben is now establishing a 2020 Public Services R&D hub at the RSA which will work with local and national partners to develop new thinking and practice on social productivity in public services. He is the author of a number of papers, book chapters and newspaper, periodical and journal articles on public services and is a regular speaker at public service conferences.