News - Midlands
It's an overused phrase, but Sir Michael Lyons really is a man who has found himself in the right place at the right time.
On the political front, as the government grapples with making the public sector ever more efficient, it's Sir Michael's door that Number 11 - or should that be Number 10 - has been knocking on to help find some answers.
On a corporate front, plenty of companies have been knocking too. Lyons, one of the most respected figures in local government (and former chief executive of Birmingham, Nottinghamshire and Wolverhampton councils), is an obvious choice when you want to make the most of those juicy public sector opportunities.
Lyons is completely upfront about it: "Companies are interested in improving their offer in the public sector and see me as a way of improving it."
But however good your credentials you still need that little extra something to become as influential and as respected as Lyons. Towards the end of our lunch in the "Garden" Brasserie of Birmingham Airport's Novotel, I ask what he thinks that something might be.
"It's probably two things. I suppose I'm a born optimist, and secondly I'm a magpie. I often see something and say to myself "I must get a bit of that'."
Today Lyons boasts so many different jobs it's a marvel he keeps track of them all. Birmingham legal giant Wragge & Co and support services group Mouchel Parkman have him on their books, while the day we meet he is about to fly to Belfast to follow up another business opportunity.
Elsewhere he is chairman of the English Cities Fund, acting chairman of the Audit Commission, chairman of the regional advisory council of ITV Central, chairman of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and also a professor of public policy at Birmingham University (although he will give this up in the spring).
Don't forget too that he also gets frequently asked to mediate in local government disputes such as that between Liverpool's council leader and chief executive - more of which later.
But then there's his biggest role of all, his review of local government finance for a certain Mr Gordon Brown, which he will complete by the end of this year. "Yes, you could say things have been getting a bit hectic of late. In fact I'm as busy as I ever was when chief executive at Birmingham. In a way I have been trained for all this."
Yet Lyons, looking as dapper and effervescent as ever, clearly thrives on it all. Did he ever expect to be quite so busy when he left Birmingham City Council back in 2001? "To be honest I thought I would just follow it up by doing the things I had always wished to explore such as going back to university and taking up a few directorships. I was not expecting all this but it has been a great privilege."
Whatever Lyons does with the rest of his life, it is his work for New Labour which will be imprinted on his epitaph. Indeed the words "Lyons' and "review' are now firmly etched in the lexicon of the public sector. The work for Whitehall can be traced back to when he was asked to sit on the independent review of the Fire Service (thereafter known as the Bain Review) in 2002. "The over-riding theme of that review and all subsequent studies I have done has been better management of public assets. How to make the public sector more efficient. One review has simply led to another."
Lyons' subsequent study into how thousands of civil service jobs could be moved from London to the regions is his best known piece of work to date. At the time Lyons said 20,000 posts could be relocated by 2010 and, despite widespread scepticism, says the target is well within reach. "Six thousand posts have now moved, and another 1,500 will move by March. We are well on course to complete 20,000 and exceed it."
Lyons adds that a number of organisations who made undertakings to move by 2009/10 have also brought those forward which he believes is highly significant. "Department heads are no longer seeing it as an instruction, more an opportunity."
But even that looks set to be eclipsed by his latest chronicle - his review of local government finance which includes the thorny topic of what to do with the council tax. Ahead of his final report Lyons has already been ruffling feathers. Most notably he was recently critical of how the government had delayed a revaluation of the council tax, now postponed until after the next election.
Doesn't he run the risk of losing his brief when he is so outspoken? "The thing to remember is that we are working in these areas precisely because they are controversial. If they were all meant to be easy we wouldn't be looking at them in the first place. Take the Turner report on pensions. I would have been surprised if everyone agreed with everything he said."
And what about Gordon? How does Lyons find the man? Does he agree that he is this great political heavyweight whom we disregard at our peril? "I have to agree with all of that. He has a very sharp mind and a very wide set of interests and I have always enjoyed the discussions I have had with him. He plays a very long game and it is clear that he is always thinking well into the future in terms of his own planning. The work I have done has in many respects fitted his own agenda."
That agenda is one in which Brown knows that at the next General Election he has to make people think that billions poured into the public sector in recent years have been well-spent.
"People's confidence in government rests on how efficient they believe public services to be," Lyons continues.
"The more efficient, the more confidence they have in government. It is not surprising that the issue of public sector efficiency is right at the top of the government agenda. Over the next few years that will only increase in importance as public expenditure is restrained."
Lyons believes there have been results, notably in educational standards and the health service. "The problem, particularly in health, is that we are trying to keep up with significantly raised expectations."
As we meander over to the buffet, Lyons stresses how he believes the time has come for radical thinking in other areas. "A big area is the public sector's approach to buildings. The sector is increasingly focused on the client, whether that be the victim, patient or pupil. What we do does not always have to take place in a hospital, school or police station and technology is making the need for some buildings redundant. If councils start selling off property and investing money elsewhere then that has huge implications. You can get more for your buck."
Lyons passionately believes there is a need for a wider public debate on the way local authorities are financed. "The public needs to understand what public services cost. Do they want more, and are they willing to pay for it? Most people think the council tax pays for 75 per cent of local services when it is just 25 per cent and the government pays the rest."
But never mind all this woolly stuff about council tax, there are many who would love Lyons to come back and sort out some bigger problems closer to home (he still lives in the Midlands), such as the sense of drift and indecision gripping Birmingham City Council, characterised by the failure to move forward a string of planned developments.
Choosing his words carefully, Lyons admits there are problems: "I share the view that Birmingham seems to have lost a bit of momentum. I contrast it with Manchester which has been successful at keeping itself in the public eye.
For instance look at the amount of money that Manchester invests in the French commercial property fair Mipim. I cannot say whether it is a sound investment but Manchester is pre-eminent in its standing among all English local authorities there. It is seen as having confidence."
Lyons believes it is difficult to be sure of the exact reason for the hiatus in Birmingham but admits that much comes down to the strength of individuals. "I am clear that cities are at their most effective when they have a strong voice both about what they are doing and why they are doing it.
"The casino debate is I think a good example of this. Does the city want a casino? Is this something the city needs as part of its social fabric? You have to be clear what a casino is going to do, clear about what the benefits are going to be."
Lyons won't come off the fence and say which of two schemes being considered by the council - at Saltley and the NEC - he prefers. "They are very different propositions. I would not want to take a stand but it is not a question of a quick fix."
Meanwhile what about the lack of a permanent chief executive in the city, a situation many blame for its present ills. Does Lyons fancy a comeback? "I'm afraid I did my 17-year stint running local authorities. Coming back even in some sort of temporary capacity certainly wouldn't work."
However Lyons stresses that finding a great figurehead, in the vogue of Manchester's chief executive Howard Bernstein, to run the council shouldn't be seen as the answer to all prayers. "The CEO doesn't operate in splendid isolation and the best run authorities usually demonstrate strong partnerships."
Until recently Liverpool was precisely such a city but then its chief executive David Henshaw and council leader Mike Storey - who between them masterminded its Capital of Culture victory - spectacularly fell out. So much so that Lyons was called in to mediate.
"It's a very sad story. When I was called in both wanted to get back to where they had been and both wanted to recapture that. However the dispute was not as exceptional as it first sounded. There are lots of tensions in leadership partnerships. However those partnerships only work if people know that they depend on each other for everyone's benefit."
So maybe Birmingham shouldn't beat itself up so much. As Lyons adds: "Birmingham is also probably the most complex city to run in the country because of its size, ambition and history." That said Lyons admits that having someone akin to a Bernstein would certainly do Birmingham no harm. "Howard is a one-off and it would be difficult to find a similar chief executive anywhere else. But maybe someone like him is a solution for Birmingham. However the most important issue for Birmingham is whether we are sending out the signal that the city is not confident enough about the way it is moving forward. It is much more worrying if we are sending out a signal that we do not know where we are going.
"My mind goes back to what happened with the Bullring and the tensions between Land Securities and Hammerson.
It was the strength of the council's response that led to the alliance. There was absolute clarity about what we were trying to do, a willingness to openly debate difficult issues. In one respect it does not matter what happens next in the city as long as something happens."
Lyons says if he did have a wish-list for the city it would include tackling transport in the city centre, redeveloping some of its suburbs, and turning public housing over to the public sector. He also believes the city needs a single marketing message.
"For Birmingham it is not about how many glass fronted buildings it has - every city has them. We have to ask what does the city stand for? For instance Birmingham has a non-conformist tradition and welcomes free-thinking people. That's something we should explore."
Free-thinking is something that has engulfed the Lyons household. His three children have left the nest but it seems no co-incidence that they all are performers of one sort or another. One teaches English and Drama, another works at a theatre and the third also works in drama. "All I can think of is that it is from the days when we would sit down for a meal and we would always have a lot of healthy debate. Mealtimes were always very verbal." And this one certainly was too.
The Chronicles of Lyons
It's an overused phrase, but Sir Michael Lyons really is a man who has found himself in the right place at the right time.
On the political front, as the government grapples with making the public sector ever more efficient, it's Sir Michael's door that Number 11 - or should that be Number 10 - has been knocking on to help find some answers.
On a corporate front, plenty of companies have been knocking too. Lyons, one of the most respected figures in local government (and former chief executive of Birmingham, Nottinghamshire and Wolverhampton councils), is an obvious choice when you want to make the most of those juicy public sector opportunities.
Lyons is completely upfront about it: "Companies are interested in improving their offer in the public sector and see me as a way of improving it."
But however good your credentials you still need that little extra something to become as influential and as respected as Lyons. Towards the end of our lunch in the "Garden" Brasserie of Birmingham Airport's Novotel, I ask what he thinks that something might be.
"It's probably two things. I suppose I'm a born optimist, and secondly I'm a magpie. I often see something and say to myself "I must get a bit of that'."
Today Lyons boasts so many different jobs it's a marvel he keeps track of them all. Birmingham legal giant Wragge & Co and support services group Mouchel Parkman have him on their books, while the day we meet he is about to fly to Belfast to follow up another business opportunity.
Elsewhere he is chairman of the English Cities Fund, acting chairman of the Audit Commission, chairman of the regional advisory council of ITV Central, chairman of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and also a professor of public policy at Birmingham University (although he will give this up in the spring).
Don't forget too that he also gets frequently asked to mediate in local government disputes such as that between Liverpool's council leader and chief executive - more of which later.
But then there's his biggest role of all, his review of local government finance for a certain Mr Gordon Brown, which he will complete by the end of this year. "Yes, you could say things have been getting a bit hectic of late. In fact I'm as busy as I ever was when chief executive at Birmingham. In a way I have been trained for all this."
Yet Lyons, looking as dapper and effervescent as ever, clearly thrives on it all. Did he ever expect to be quite so busy when he left Birmingham City Council back in 2001? "To be honest I thought I would just follow it up by doing the things I had always wished to explore such as going back to university and taking up a few directorships. I was not expecting all this but it has been a great privilege."
Whatever Lyons does with the rest of his life, it is his work for New Labour which will be imprinted on his epitaph. Indeed the words "Lyons' and "review' are now firmly etched in the lexicon of the public sector. The work for Whitehall can be traced back to when he was asked to sit on the independent review of the Fire Service (thereafter known as the Bain Review) in 2002. "The over-riding theme of that review and all subsequent studies I have done has been better management of public assets. How to make the public sector more efficient. One review has simply led to another."
Lyons' subsequent study into how thousands of civil service jobs could be moved from London to the regions is his best known piece of work to date. At the time Lyons said 20,000 posts could be relocated by 2010 and, despite widespread scepticism, says the target is well within reach. "Six thousand posts have now moved, and another 1,500 will move by March. We are well on course to complete 20,000 and exceed it."
Lyons adds that a number of organisations who made undertakings to move by 2009/10 have also brought those forward which he believes is highly significant. "Department heads are no longer seeing it as an instruction, more an opportunity."
But even that looks set to be eclipsed by his latest chronicle - his review of local government finance which includes the thorny topic of what to do with the council tax. Ahead of his final report Lyons has already been ruffling feathers. Most notably he was recently critical of how the government had delayed a revaluation of the council tax, now postponed until after the next election.
Doesn't he run the risk of losing his brief when he is so outspoken? "The thing to remember is that we are working in these areas precisely because they are controversial. If they were all meant to be easy we wouldn't be looking at them in the first place. Take the Turner report on pensions. I would have been surprised if everyone agreed with everything he said."
And what about Gordon? How does Lyons find the man? Does he agree that he is this great political heavyweight whom we disregard at our peril? "I have to agree with all of that. He has a very sharp mind and a very wide set of interests and I have always enjoyed the discussions I have had with him. He plays a very long game and it is clear that he is always thinking well into the future in terms of his own planning. The work I have done has in many respects fitted his own agenda."
That agenda is one in which Brown knows that at the next General Election he has to make people think that billions poured into the public sector in recent years have been well-spent.
"People's confidence in government rests on how efficient they believe public services to be," Lyons continues.
"The more efficient, the more confidence they have in government. It is not surprising that the issue of public sector efficiency is right at the top of the government agenda. Over the next few years that will only increase in importance as public expenditure is restrained."
Lyons believes there have been results, notably in educational standards and the health service. "The problem, particularly in health, is that we are trying to keep up with significantly raised expectations."
As we meander over to the buffet, Lyons stresses how he believes the time has come for radical thinking in other areas. "A big area is the public sector's approach to buildings. The sector is increasingly focused on the client, whether that be the victim, patient or pupil. What we do does not always have to take place in a hospital, school or police station and technology is making the need for some buildings redundant. If councils start selling off property and investing money elsewhere then that has huge implications. You can get more for your buck."
Lyons passionately believes there is a need for a wider public debate on the way local authorities are financed. "The public needs to understand what public services cost. Do they want more, and are they willing to pay for it? Most people think the council tax pays for 75 per cent of local services when it is just 25 per cent and the government pays the rest."
But never mind all this woolly stuff about council tax, there are many who would love Lyons to come back and sort out some bigger problems closer to home (he still lives in the Midlands), such as the sense of drift and indecision gripping Birmingham City Council, characterised by the failure to move forward a string of planned developments.
Choosing his words carefully, Lyons admits there are problems: "I share the view that Birmingham seems to have lost a bit of momentum. I contrast it with Manchester which has been successful at keeping itself in the public eye.
For instance look at the amount of money that Manchester invests in the French commercial property fair Mipim. I cannot say whether it is a sound investment but Manchester is pre-eminent in its standing among all English local authorities there. It is seen as having confidence."
Lyons believes it is difficult to be sure of the exact reason for the hiatus in Birmingham but admits that much comes down to the strength of individuals. "I am clear that cities are at their most effective when they have a strong voice both about what they are doing and why they are doing it.
"The casino debate is I think a good example of this. Does the city want a casino? Is this something the city needs as part of its social fabric? You have to be clear what a casino is going to do, clear about what the benefits are going to be."
Lyons won't come off the fence and say which of two schemes being considered by the council - at Saltley and the NEC - he prefers. "They are very different propositions. I would not want to take a stand but it is not a question of a quick fix."
Meanwhile what about the lack of a permanent chief executive in the city, a situation many blame for its present ills. Does Lyons fancy a comeback? "I'm afraid I did my 17-year stint running local authorities. Coming back even in some sort of temporary capacity certainly wouldn't work."
However Lyons stresses that finding a great figurehead, in the vogue of Manchester's chief executive Howard Bernstein, to run the council shouldn't be seen as the answer to all prayers. "The CEO doesn't operate in splendid isolation and the best run authorities usually demonstrate strong partnerships."
Until recently Liverpool was precisely such a city but then its chief executive David Henshaw and council leader Mike Storey - who between them masterminded its Capital of Culture victory - spectacularly fell out. So much so that Lyons was called in to mediate.
"It's a very sad story. When I was called in both wanted to get back to where they had been and both wanted to recapture that. However the dispute was not as exceptional as it first sounded. There are lots of tensions in leadership partnerships. However those partnerships only work if people know that they depend on each other for everyone's benefit."
So maybe Birmingham shouldn't beat itself up so much. As Lyons adds: "Birmingham is also probably the most complex city to run in the country because of its size, ambition and history." That said Lyons admits that having someone akin to a Bernstein would certainly do Birmingham no harm. "Howard is a one-off and it would be difficult to find a similar chief executive anywhere else. But maybe someone like him is a solution for Birmingham. However the most important issue for Birmingham is whether we are sending out the signal that the city is not confident enough about the way it is moving forward. It is much more worrying if we are sending out a signal that we do not know where we are going.
"My mind goes back to what happened with the Bullring and the tensions between Land Securities and Hammerson.
It was the strength of the council's response that led to the alliance. There was absolute clarity about what we were trying to do, a willingness to openly debate difficult issues. In one respect it does not matter what happens next in the city as long as something happens."
Lyons says if he did have a wish-list for the city it would include tackling transport in the city centre, redeveloping some of its suburbs, and turning public housing over to the public sector. He also believes the city needs a single marketing message.
"For Birmingham it is not about how many glass fronted buildings it has - every city has them. We have to ask what does the city stand for? For instance Birmingham has a non-conformist tradition and welcomes free-thinking people. That's something we should explore."
Free-thinking is something that has engulfed the Lyons household. His three children have left the nest but it seems no co-incidence that they all are performers of one sort or another. One teaches English and Drama, another works at a theatre and the third also works in drama. "All I can think of is that it is from the days when we would sit down for a meal and we would always have a lot of healthy debate. Mealtimes were always very verbal." And this one certainly was too.