Barry Quirk is Chief Executive of

Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council is the local authority for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Kensington and Chel ...

(previously Chief Executive of Lewisham Council) and co-chaired the Design Commission's report 'Restarting Britain 2: meeting needs, saving money, humanising services, engaging citizens'.

Background

Barry Quirk has a PhD in political and social geography and is an author and regular lecturer on localism, public policy and public management. According to Quirk's 2011 book, ''Re-imagining government: public leadership in challenging times'', there are three key purposes of government: the necessity of solving community problems, securing welfare and having the legitimacy to determine common good. He argues that this legitimacy comes from discussion between leaders and communities, based on five core ethical principles. These can be paraphrased as treating people according to their own wants and intentions, letting them choose for themselves, empathising with them, helping them if it is possible to do so without wasting that effort, and encouraging them to help each other through reciprocal arrangements - a set of ethical principles he attributes to philosopher

Iain King Iain Benjamin King is a British writer. King was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 Birthday Honours, for services to governance in Libya, Afghanistan and Kosovo. He is a Scholar at the Modern War Institute, ...

. He was Chief Executive at Lewisham since November 1993, and once described by

Geoff Mulgan Sir Geoff Mulgan CBE (born 1961) is Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). From 2011 to 2019 he was Chief Executive of the National Endowment for Science Technology and the ...

as a 'seasoned public service leader'. He has worked in local government for over 35 years, with experience in five London councils. He is a leading local government chief executive nationally, involved in the improvement of public services across London and the UK. From 2004 to 2009, Barry was appointed by Government to be the National Efficiency Champion for English local government. In 2007 he produced a landmark report for Government on the potential transfer of public assets to community groups. In 2013, he co-chaired a comprehensive manifesto for the redesign of public services in Britain. Following the June 2017

Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. 72 people died, two later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escapin ...

in North Kensington (and the resignation of the CEO of the

on 21 June), Quirk was seconded as CEO of KCBC to stabilise that council in the aftermath. In September 2017 he resigned from his post in Lewisham to become CEO of KCBC on a permanent basis. About the Grenfell disaster, Quirk said "I think people should continue to advocate for the interests of survivors who haven’t yet been housed. I’ve got no problem with their impatience. They should be impatient. It’s terrible that we have a situation where we haven’t found properties that are suitable. A lot of that is about scarcity. But I don’t achieve anything by making impractical, infeasible demands on our own organisation."Pippa Crerar (9 February 2018
"Grenfell housing chief slams Theresa May's 3 week rehoming promise to survivors"
''

The Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

''. Retrieved 2018-06-24.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quirk, Barry Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Living people Chief officers of local government bodies in the United Kingdom Year of birth missing (living people)