The Chief Executive for the London Borough of Lewisham is Barry Quirk CBE.
He is the Council’s head of paid service. He leads the work of all the Council’s staff and is accountable for the overall effectiveness and efficiency of their work in delivering services and social results locally. The Chief Executive works closely with the directed elected Mayor and elected councillors to provide:
- leadership for results – setting the Council’s management arrangements and practices to ensure effective and efficient delivery of services through well organised and motivated staff
- strategic direction – ensuring that the Mayor and Council’s priorities and goals can be implemented through focused strategies, projects and programmes
- policy advice - acting as the principal policy adviser to the directed elected Mayor and elected councillors and securing best professional advice on all relevant matters in respect of the Council’s functions and services
- partnerships - leading and developing effective partnerships at management level with other public agencies, private companies and local community organisations to achieve better public services and improved results for local people
- operational management – ensuring that the Council has the highest standards of achievement in financial and budgetary management; the management of service performance; the management of emergencies and risks generally; the management of people and suppliers; and the overall management of change and improvement within the Council.
The Chief Executive is expected to work as necessary to ensure that the service is maintained, including evening and weekend working, for which no additional payments are made to him. He is ‘on call’ at all times, to deal with serious and urgent matters and to cover emergency planning requirements.
In 2008-09 the Chief Executive received a salary of £192,387. He receives no performance related pay or bonuses. The national conditions of local government service are that he contributes 7.5 per cent of his salary to the local government pension scheme. Lewisham Council's employer contribution to the pension fund for Barry Quirk and all other contributing members of staff to the scheme is 19.5 per cent.
Barry Quirk has been Chief Executive at Lewisham since 1994. He has worked in local government for over 30 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. Barry Quirk has been the Government’s national 'efficiency champion' for local government for the past five years – and the Government pays the Council for the time he spends performing this role. In 2007, the Secretary of State for Communities and local government invited him to undertake a review on the potential for community ownership and management of public assets. His report has set the basis for significant changes across the country. In 2007 he was the President of the national association for local government chief executives (SOLACE) and served as its national Chairman until 2009. As Lewisham’s chief executive, he has served in a number of London-wide roles (including crime reduction, service efficiency, health improvement and child protection).
Barry is a qualified teacher and housing professional with an academic background in public policy – he has a PhD in social and political geography, which he gained studying a secondary school organisation in Hampshire. He is a Fellow in Social Policy and Politics at Goldsmiths College.
Barry was awarded a CBE in the 2001 New Years Honours list for services to local government in London.