Guy Battle is passionate about the contribution that business can make to improve our society. This has been one of the driving motivations behind Social Value Portal, which he set up in 2015 to provide an online solution for measuring, procuring, and managing social value. Guy is also the creator of the National Social Value Measurement Framework (The National TOMs) that have become the most widely used methodology for measuring and reporting social value in the public sector. Outside of his work with SVP, Guy chairs the ESG committee for the British Council for Offices, focusing on environmental sustainability within office developments, and also chairs Riversimple, a zero-emissions mobility solution that builds and operates a growing fleet of hydrogen-electric vehicles.

Tom has supported procurement organisations across the breadth of the UK public sector in the design and running of complex, high profile procurements, and has extensive experience of managing complex supply chains, designing procurement best practice and leading procurement improvement programmes.

Richard Hassett has been in Government for over 25 years, having worked in the Cabinet Office, HMT, what is now the Infrastructure and Projects Authority and the Crown Commercial Service. He for the last two years has been the Policy lead on the procurement bill covering the Commercial Tools. He will be returning to the Crown Commercial Service in 2024 to help design its new products ahead of the introduction of the Procurement Act 2023.

Chris Kirby is Head of Engagement for the Transforming Public Procurement programme and has over 20 years marketing and change communications experience. He has extensive experience working and collaborating with suppliers of all sizes in the marketing communications sector and has acted as an assessor in supplier framework assessment panels.

Michelle McCann oversees the strategic direction for Sustainability and Social Value at NHS LPP. She is responsible for leading the approach across NHS member trusts and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in London to enable them to support sustainability initiatives that will positively contribute to the delivery of NHS Net Zero target by 2040, and embed, track and measure social value in procurement activity to maximise the impact achieved for local communities. Michelle is dedicated to educating and inspiring all to live greener. She specialises in engagement with stakeholders and customers by taking a collaborative approach - with appropriate consultation blended with defining practical needs. Working closely with London ICBs, anchor institutions, NHS London, the London Estates Delivery Board and others, in early 2022, she helped deliver a pan-London Social Value Tool for ICBs which will track and report on the Social Value commitments made by suppliers through the procurement process against the Social Value priorities for the region. Prior to this, in addition to her role as Category Director for NHS LPP’s Estates, Facilities and Professional Services category, Michelle embedded a keen and growing interest in Sustainability and Social Value amongst staff, through the ‘Greener LPP’ initiative, which features regular campaigns and challenges to keep the topics at front of mind for staff. Michelle has over 20 years’ experience working within public sector Estates teams. Before joining NHS LPP, she was Head of Procurement, Estates Contracts and Finance at Goldsmiths, University of London and prior to that worked as the Strategic Planning Manager in the Estates team at the Medical Research Council’s Head office.

Lynn has 24 years public procurement experience, predominantly with the Scottish Government, and has extensive experience of working with senior stakeholders from across the public and private sectors, managing complex supply chains, designing procurement best practice and leading procurement improvement programmes to maximise impact at local, regional and national level.

Lorraine leads STAR Procurement which is a very successful, high performing public sector shared service that is leading collaborative change and transformation through procurement and Social Value. STAR supports four Greater Manchester Councils and now two Liverpool City Region Councils that joined STAR in 2023. Lorraine has led STAR for almost seven years and in 22/23 they supported the retention of 78.9% local spend within Greater Manchester for her four partner Councils. STAR have continued to improve the Social Value captured as added value through procurement securing 38.5% accumulatively of the collective contract value since April 2019. The National Social Value Taskforce is a ‘coalition of the willing’ of public, private and voluntary sector representatives who act as advocates and creators of this ‘Social Value Movement’. Lorraine has been part of this since its formation in 2017 as was appointed as Chair in June 2023. Lorraine received a national award ‘Best Council to do Business With’ historically which she received at No.10 Downing St. She personally contributed to the improvement of Public Contract Regulations 2015 and Lord Young’s Reforms as she attended a Select Committee in the House of Commons to respond to a Public Procurement Review. Lorraine was also highly commended in Leadership at the National Social Value Conference 2020 and STAR won an award for embedding Social Value into the procurement processes in 2021.

Leah Mickleborough joined Norwich City Council in 2021 as a highly experienced local government officer. A chartered accountant and chartered manager, Leah has a particular interest in governance, having managed a wide range of services including procurement, democratic, elections, corporate support, legal and insurance shared services and community support. She has worked on major change and structural programmes in the sector, supported legislative change, advised on the development of sector guidance and on the governance of Council group companies. In her role, she is both Monitoring Officer to the Council, ensuring its administration and decision making is legal and sound, as well as holding the civic role of City Clerk of Norwich

Recognised by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 as a leading expert in public law and procurement, Peter is the head of Browne Jacobson’s Government practice. Specialising in contentious and non-contentious procurement matters, Peter supports public and private sector clients to get the very best out of their regulated procurement activity. Peter’s extensive experience also means that he can advise clients on a variety of commercial matters for both government and supplier-to-government clients. Prior to joining Browne Jacobson, Peter was a special projects adviser for Nottinghamshire County Council – meaning he really understands the pressures faced by in-house counsel when leading major projects. Peter is also the Finance and Membership Secretary of the Procurement Lawyers Association, and on the editorial Board for Lexis Nexis Local Government.

Neil Hind has worked across various private and public sector organisations advising and delivering on various procurement, programme and sustainability programmes. He is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool. He has previously held the roles of the Head of Procurement for the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, was Head of Procurement at NHS England whilst implementing a new Commercial and Procurement team, and was the GM NHS Procurement Programme Director, setting up one of the first ICS procurement teams within the NHS. More recently he has been supporting Net Zero for Carbon & Social Value Projects for NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care and is now their Anchors Programme Lead looking at system approach in embedding the Anchor principals that includes social value.

Sara is multi award winning socially driven business leader with 30 years’ experience leading both public and private sector organisations. Sara is motivated by a real desire to reach the most vulnerable and neglected members of society, raise their living standard, and see their dignity restored. During her time in the public-sector Sara delivered a range of frontline services that went beyond her role including mentoring young women at risk, creating specialist teams to tackle youth crime, working with women in prison to educate them about the dangers of arson and the delivery of Liverpool’s super zone The Fire Fit Hub (Fire Fit) that supports 100’s of young people. Seeing an opportunity to create an organisation that was truly capable of and committed to making a difference in people’s lives founded Rise Construction Framework; a business for good that uses profits to fund services that tackle some of society’s darkest issues.

Rob has been Director of Procurement at the University of Bristol since 2018, where he leads all procurement activity, across commodity areas including professional services, IT services, building fabric and scientific equipment, prior to that he was Head of Procurement for Bristol City Council.

Alan is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply and has over 25 years’ experience of procurement in both the private and public sectors. He started his procurement career in the IT sector working for HP, before migrating to the automotive sector. Alan then moved into the public sector as Procurement Manager for NHS Scotland before joining the Housing Sector in 2007. He is now the Director of Procurement for Place for People Group and heads up the Procurement Hub consortium.

Paul was initially a scientist, under taking a PhD in Polymer Physics at the University of Leeds, before joining Chemical giant ICI. He eventually joined their Contract Purchasing Group setting up international sourcing contracts for Engineering Equipment. He left to set up his own business in 1996, and since then has provided consultancy and training to a wide range organisations in the public and private sectors. He has carried out training programmes in Europe, USA, Middle East and Far East. Currently he focuses on UK Public Procurement, with a particular focus on developing SMEs.

Paul began his career in public sector housing working for Newark and Sherwood Homes in Nottinghamshire, where he spent 8 years, starting as a temporary finance admin officer before working his way up to procurement manager. Having managed tenant insurance, leaseholder properties, customer service, careline services and procurement he moved into the framework sector with Consortium Procurement in 2019. Today he works for national framework provider LHC, specialising in Construction, as the Regional Procurement Manager. Paul is passionate about procurement and helping to change the way procurement is done to open the public sector to the very best suppliers available.

Gemma has worked in procurement for nearly 20 years in both buyer and supplier roles, gaining valuable insights on what works best for both sides. She has worked with Capita, Siemens, Scottish Government, Proactis, and many other public sector bodies including housing associations, local government and health services. Gemma takes pride in staying on top of developments in the procurement sector and sharing this knowledge with others through a range of learning and development activities.

Recognised by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 as a leading expert in public law and procurement, Peter is the head of Browne Jacobson’s Government practice. Specialising in contentious and non-contentious procurement matters, Peter supports public and private sector clients to get the very best out of their regulated procurement activity. Peter’s extensive experience also means that he can advise clients on a variety of commercial matters for both government and supplier-to-government clients. Prior to joining Browne Jacobson, Peter was a special projects adviser for Nottinghamshire County Council – meaning he really understands the pressures faced by in-house counsel when leading major projects. Peter is also the Finance and Membership Secretary of the Procurement Lawyers Association, and on the editorial Board for Lexis Nexis Local Government.

Clare Willmitt joined Crown Commercial Service (CCS) in May 2016. Clare’s current role as Workstream Lead within the Transforming Public Procurement project team is to coordinate the implementation of guidance and information across CCS as a result of the procurement reform. Clare is based in the North West and has over 15 years experience of working in the public and third sectors, with a background predominantly in finance, she has a passion for building effective working relationships and supporting her colleagues and customers. This has led her into Commercial Lead and Senior Account Manager roles in more recent years. Clare is excited to be working as part of the Transforming Public Procurement project team and is confident that the team can successfully support the changes the new regime will bring.

Stephen is the Project Manager Transparency Systems, supporting the delivery of the digital platform project as part of the Transforming Public Procurement reform programme. He joined the Cabinet Office in October 2022, having spent a significant portion of his career at Historic England & English Heritage. Stephen has over 20 years experience of programme and project management, delivering business change and improvement, especially with a digital focus.

Phil Williams is Procurement Director for The Procurement Partnership Limited (TPPL). TPPL are leading providers of compliant framework agreements and procurement consultancy services to Local Authorities, Registered Providers of Social Housing, NHS Trusts, Fire Authorities, Universities, Schools, and Charities across the UK. TPPL’s free to join buying club consists of over 900 public sector organisations, including over 85% of all Local Authorities. Over the last four years we’ve helped our members tender and award over £1billion of contract value. TPPL manage a range of frameworks and dynamic purchasing systems compliant with Public Contracts Regulations. Our solutions cover the purchase, rental, and contract hire of vehicles, from cars and vans, through to HGVs, and including electric and hydrogen options. TPPL also provide solutions for a range of fleet ancillary products, the supply of building materials, grounds maintenance equipment, and plant and handheld tools.

Lindsay is the Head of Engagement for Procurement Team at the Cabinet Office. She joined the Government Commercial Organisation in 2016, initially working as senior category leader for employment and labour market in DWP and subsequently as Head of Small Business Policy at Cabinet Office, working with all central government departments and SMEs to break down barriers to entry. Prior to joining the civil service, she gained 10+ commercial experience from the private sector, working in the Aerospace, property management and FMCG sectors for both large multinationals and SMEs, including spending 5 years abroad in Germany, Netherlands and Canada working on complex projects.

Lucy is responsible for developing and implementing partnerships and stakeholder management strategy covering a wide range of organisations in Education, Local Government, Health, Third Sector and Devolved Administrations. She has delivered mutually rewarding commercial agreements and joint delivery plans with buying organisations operating as competitors to CCS.

The Cabinet Office support the Prime Minister and ensure the effective running of government. They are also the corporate headquarters for government, in partnership with HM Treasury, and take the lead in certain critical policy areas such as the proposed reforms within the Procurement Bill.

The Cabinet Office support the Prime Minister and ensure the effective running of government. They are also the corporate headquarters for government, in partnership with HM Treasury, and take the lead in certain critical policy areas such as the proposed reforms within the Procurement Bill

Dr Joshua Pritchard is the Deputy Director of the CBI’s Policy Unit, and the CBI’s public sector markets lead. Josh helps lead the CBI’s team covering infrastructure, transport, manufacturing, retail, and construction, and personally heads up policy around public procurement, major projects, defence, and social value. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge, and previously worked on policy issues for Reform think tank, the Solidarity Peace Trust in South Africa, and the De Beers Group.

Darren leads a team of twenty-three procurement staff responsible for all procurement activity at Durham County Council. In 2016 Darren was awarded the Cabinet Office’s first ever award for Social Value Leadership for an Organisation. He is Chair of the Local Government Association’s National Advisory Group for Local Government Procurement and is the Chair of the National Social Value Taskforce.

Eddie is BiP Solutions’ Principal Procurement Consultant and working alongside the Client Services team, he frequently assists public sector organisations with clarification and interpretation of EU Directives and a wide variety of legislative issues. For the last 21 years Eddie has lectured regularly on procurement policy and processes at conferences and events, both on behalf of BiP and for a variety of other organisations. He also provides in-house training on the tendering process to personnel in both the public and private sectors.

Phil regularly provides advice and support to both public and private sector clients, handling a wide variety of procurement and tendering-related questions and challenges. Phil has delivered presentations on procurement regulation, policy and processes at numerous public sector tendering and training events covering a diverse range of procurement-related topics, on behalf of both BiP Solutions and other organisations including the Scottish Government, the Supplier Development Programme and the Higher Education Procurement Academy. During a two-year secondment to the Scottish Government’s procurement policy team Phil supported the transposition of the new procurement legislation, created and delivered a comprehensive training programme on the legislative changes and also delivered support to the Government’s Single Point of Enquiry and their European Structural Funds Team. Before joining PASS, Phil spent three years as Interoperability Manager for the UK Government’s Supply2.gov.uk service. During this time he worked with public sector organisations to increase the number of opportunities available to SMEs through the portal, and with business support organisations and trade associations to help the SME community take advantage of this resource. More recently, Phil has delivered a wide variety of procurement projects both in the UK and internationally, including providing UK defence exporters with a comprehensive guide to supplying the Japanese Ministry of Defence and wider defence sector (a Foreign and Commonwealth Office project); and delivery of a tailored procurement function to a UK contracting authority (including knowledge transfer, handbook and ongoing procurement support). He is currently writing a Foundation Course on public procurement for the Caribbean region.

Rebecca is a partner and Head of Public Procurement. She also leads the cross-firm Building a Safer Future team at Trowers & Hamlins. Rebecca is a leading national expert in public procurement law, consistently ranked as among the world's leading government contracts lawyers (Who's Who Legal and Chambers and Partners). Rebecca has significant experience in advising clients in the public, private and third sectors on public procurement, subsidy control and building safety strategy issues. She advises clients on procurement strategy and structures, how to conduct flexible and compliant procurement procedures and compile objective and transparent evaluation models and guidance. With particular interests in value-led procurement, social value and building safety, Rebecca is a member of the Working Group 11 for Procurement Competency, part of the Competency Steering Group (CSG), set up by the Industry Response Group (IRG) to tackle competency failings identified in the Hackitt Review, Building a Safer Future and sits on DLUHC's Procurement Advisory Group. Rebecca also represents Trowers & Hamlins on the Social Value in Housing Taskforce, led by HACT, which focuses on the further development of robust measurement and management of social value outcomes. Rebecca also sits on the Advisory Council of Radioactive Waste Management, the public sector organisation established by government responsible for planning and delivering geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste in the UK. Rebecca is ranked in Band 1 and named as a 'Top Ranked and Leader in the Field for Public Procurement (UK-wide)' by the Chambers and Partners' Guide to the Legal Profession 2022. She is also recognised as a Global Leader in the "Who's Who Legal Guide to Government Contracts 2021".

As Procurement Reform Deputy Head Ben is responsible for leading the MOD’s defence and security elements of the Cabinet Office led Procurement Bill. Working closely with the Cabinet Office, Ben leads a multi-functional team, bringing together commercial, legal and change delivery expertise ensuring the provisions within the Procurement Bill meet the requirements of Defence and that these provisions are fully scrutinised via the Parliamentary Process. An equal priority for Ben focuses on preparation for implementation of the new rules. Working alongside colleagues within the MOD and CO, but also with colleagues from industry, Ben recognises the success of the new rules is dependent on sufficient training, understand and preparation ahead of the go live date.