Andrew Street

New director sets out his stall

Andrew Street was appointed director of Staffordshire Connects in July, succeeding Lichfield District Council executive director Rita Wilson who had carried out the role on an interim basis. Speaking shortly after his appointment, Andrew said he was keen to build on Rita's "excellent work" in kicking off a series of important projects for which she had secured approval.

With a strong track record in partnership working, Andrew said he was relishing the challenge of helping implement the public sector transformation agenda and sharpen customer focus during a period of austerity which would require local authorities to protect and improve services with fewer resources.

His immediate priorities include accelerating investment in and use of shared systems and services, while there was still time to capitalise further on the shared CRM, which he described as "the backbone of shared service delivery in many instances". With public sector spending cuts expected to bite hard after October's Comprehensive Spending Review, he predicted that the approach pioneered by Staffordshire Connects would have an increasingly crucial role to play in saving taxpayers' money by helping to redesign public services simultaneously making them more customer-friendly. All partners were keen to resolve as many service requests as possible at first point of contact and enable more efficient two-tier services.

A related priority is joint procurement of customer insight tools that enable partners to deliver services more proactively by allowing a better understanding of what customers need and how they access services.

Before coming to Staffordshire, Andrew spent six years as chief executive of the Alliance Economic Development Partnership in North Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire. His time in the East Midlands was preceded by a spell as chief executive of Suffolk Development Agency and then a period at London Development Agency's, working with sub-regional partnerships in the west and north of the capital and initiatives to improve small companies' access to finance.

Andrew is contracted to Staffordshire Connects for three days a week, working normally on Tuesday to Thursday.

Away from work, he enjoys exploring the stunning countryside of Staffordshire Moorlands and the Peak District. He is the father of grown-up children James and Rebecca.