Sir Michael Barber is to give a talk at 6pm on 24 February 2009 in the Great Hall, Queen's University Belfast

Michael Barber joined McKinsey on 1 September 2005 as the expert partner in its Global Public Sector Practice.

Prior to joining McKinsey he was (from 2001) Chief Adviser on Delivery to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair. As Head of the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit he was responsible for the oversight of implementation of the Prime Minister’s priority programmes in health, education, transport, policing, the criminal justice system and asylum/immigration.
On behalf of the Prime Minister he worked closely with ministers and top officials to ensure the policies, systems and processes put in place would deliver promised outcomes.

The approach he developed is widely seen as constructive and innovative and has been described by the IMF as “the frontier” of performance management in Government.

Between 1997 and 2001, Michael Barber was Chief Adviser to the Secretary of State for Education on School Standards. In this role he was responsible for the implementation of the British government’s ambitions and hard-hitting school reform programme including successful programmes to improve literacy and numeracy at primary level, tackle school failure at all levels and contract out failing local education authorities.

Prior to joining government Michael Barber was a Professor at the Institute of Education, University of London and a prolific author whose major publications include The Learning Game: Arguments for an Education Revolution (Indigo 1997), How to do the Impossible: A Guide for Politicians with a Passion for Education (Institute of Education, London 1997) and The Virtue of Accountability (Boston University 2005).

 His advice on public policy, especially education has been sought by governments in a number of countries including Australia, the U.S., Russia, Estonia and Hong Kong and by major international organisations including the OECD, The World Bank and the IMF.

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