being more than self-assured – UK Health Security Agency

Having started my career as a trainee accountant at South Tyneside Council nearly 25 years ago and returned after a time elsewhere in the public sector to have a stint as Head of Finance, local government still feels like my spiritual home. It was somewhat serendipitous, then, that I took up the role of Finance and Commercial Director at Public Health England (PHE) as public health returned home to local government.

Since taking up post, I’ve remained concerned at the low and variable level of investment in public health that local authorities and NHS commissioners inherited. Since 1 April 2013, responsibility for improving the health of the…