Paul Probert

Head of Policy, Scrutiny and Intelligence @London Borough of Hounslow

Hounslow Central, GB

I lead six corporate teams – business improvement; community resilience; corporate information; data and performance; the council’s intelligence hub; and policy and scrutiny – and work with Members and senior officers to deliver the organisation’s key priorities. In this role, I have:1. Demonstrated the benefits of a policy function looking beyond the organisation to address key challenges – whether delivering borough-wide partnership strategies, securing funding from the Local Government Association to use behavioural science to improve outcomes, or actively place-shaping by using cultural assets to draw more than £5million into the borough.2. Expanded the use of intelligence and insight to support effective decision making – supporting the use evidence-based policy both within the authority and with our partners, providing insight to a range of collaborators from small local charities and businesses to Hounslow Clinical Commissioning Group.3. Championed new approaches to understand and improve the resilience of individuals and communities - leveraging £4 of external investment for every £1 invested by the council whilst, crucially, embedding the learning into wider organisation, supporting the development of an asset-based approach to adult social care.4. Improved and streamlined corporate planning and performance management – introducing a more intuitive, user-friendly performance methodology which focuses on impact whilst also developing a new corporate plan that addresses the council’s political, financial and operational realities.5. Led a diverse range of teams from award-winning geospatial analysts and surplus-generating teams to corporate overview and scrutiny and public health analysts - encouraging colleagues to think beyond their professional boundaries, maximise their collective impact, and achieve more by working together.

University of East Anglia

MA, History

University of York

Master of Public Administration - MPA, Public Policy and Managment

University of East Anglia

BA, European History

University of Oxford

D.Phil., Modern History