This week IDeA Knowledge caught up with Barry Quirk, national Efficiency Champion and Chief Executive of the London Borough of Lewisham, and asked him to explain himself.
IDeA Knowledge: You are a self-confessed basketball fanatic. Can you draw an analogy – however tenuous – between the game and local government?
Barry Quirk: As a five-on-five game it involves competition that is 'up close and personal'. Local government involves larger teams, but it has the character of a contact sport – the public with the politicians, the politicians with the managers, the managers with the staff and staff with the public!
What was the best piece of advice ever given to you?
Quirk: When you write something in anger, keep it and read it the next day – you will rarely send it.
What aspect of local government keeps you awake a night?
Quirk: My local council not controlling urban foxes – they scream all night long.
How would you describe your job to a five-year-old?
Quirk: I help grown-ups to stop arguing and begin helping each other.
What is the best and worst thing about the street in which you live, in terms of public services?
Quirk: An operating fire station at the end of the road gives great comfort and assurance; while the environment agency flood wall at the end of my tiny garden seems to have been designed blindfolded.
