What we do

Liz and Robert Gifford have for many years been involved at a strategic level in successful initiatives to bring about change in public policy in the fields of transport safety, local and national government and learning and training. Their experience covers the private, public, professional and charity sectors.

The best way to describe what they do is to demonstrate what they have done to date:

Robert Gifford’s Achievements

At the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety

  • Edited and published a series of reports analysing aspects of road safety policy including the impact of deficit reduction, safe mobility for an ageing population, behaviour change and road safety beyond 2010
  • Established PACTS’ position as the leading independent commentator on transport safety policy
  • Organised two successful conferences per year on a range of transport safety issues including driving while impaired, developing a vision for road safety, safety and sustainability and driving for work
  • Organised the prestigious annual Westminster Lecture on Transport Safety bringing together politicians and practitioners to debate key safety issues
  • Worked closely with trustees and members to ensure that the charity achieved its charitable objective including developing a new definition of transport safety to meet the “public benefit” test

At Westminster

  • Acted for 10 years as the Specialist Advisor on transport safety to the Transport Select Committee of the House of Commons
  • Gave evidence to both the Transport Committee and to the House of Lords Science Committee
  • Acted as secretary to PACTS as an associate Parliamentary group
  • Identified and recruited new Parliamentary members
  • Worked closely with MPs and Peers across the political parties
  • Drafted amendments to government Bills
  • Worked with backbench MPs and Peers on private members’ bills such as that on Daylight Saving in December 2010

In Whitehall

  • Served on the Department for Transport Implementation Group overseeing the Strategic Framework for Road Safety
  • Was a member of the Motorists’ Forum advising government on issues affecting motoring and safety
  • Served on the Office of Rail Regulation Rail Industry Advisory Committee
  • Was a member of the Ministerial Road Safety Advisory Panel between 2000 and 2007
  • Led delegations to Ministers on issues such as single/double summertime, funding for speed cameras and the need for targets for casualty reduction

In Transport Safety

  • Contributed to the review of the Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme in aviation
  • Served on the Safety Advisory Committee of the Rail Safety and Standards Board
  • Sat on the Governance Board for the National Driver Offenders Retraining Scheme organised by the police service

In Communication

  • Has chaired international events for the European Transport Safety Council and SWOV, the Dutch road safety institute
  • Has regularly spoken at conferences on issues such as speed management, transport safety and health, the need for targets and strategy in road safety and enforcement
  • Has lectured at Cranfield University, Leeds University Institute for Transport Studies and the Centre for Transport Studies, University College London
  • Has worked extensively in both written and spoken media, both live and recorded

In Summary

  • Has built up a reputation for independent commentary on safety and politics
  • Has worked with a range of stakeholders to develop key partnerships
  • Understands the voluntary, public and private sectors

Liz Gifford’s Achievements

Liz Gifford has successfully initiated and managed many different projects focussing mainly but not exclusively on adult skills and employment.

Examples to illustrate:

Economic Summit in Milton Keynes 2008, jointly with Milton Keynes Council (MKC)

  • Agreed remit and purpose with MKC
  • Engaged key contributors eg British Chambers of Commerce and local Chamber of Commerce
  • Lined up national and local speakers for both morning session with businesses and afternoon with agencies
  • Publicised and recruited attendees including over 100 businesses
  • Jointly planned the detailed organisation for and on the day
  • Devised the brief and activities for the table top discussions so as to gather usable intelligence
  • Drew together and analysed the outcomes from those discussions within 24 hours
  • Actively contributed and led an aspect of the actions implemented to help businesses, organisations and individuals

Skills Framework: Identification of high level skills priorities for an Economic Development Strategy (2010/11)

  • Talked to providers’ forum and individual providers and learners
  • Engaged business facing organisations and businesses
  • Discussed with policy makers and elected members
  • Studies priorities of funding and other bodies
  • Drew on the work of Sector Skills Councils
  • Developed consultation questions
  • Distilled the results of the consultation into a few key priorities which met with agreement, informed the strategy and subsequent actions

Research for an Education Business Partnership (2012): a report on future options included

  • Desk top on policy context
  • Other similar partnerships’ activities
  • Views of businesses
  • Aspirations of schools
  • Other perspectives
  • Recommendations and rationale

and is now being implemented

Recently completed (see testimonial) (2012/13): Skills research and strategic planning for Northampton Waterside Enterprise Zone (NWEZ)

  • Chaired panel appointing two consultancies
  • Charing steering group overseeing the project
  • Managing the work of four separate consultancies
  • Engaging with local stakeholders
  • Organised two stakeholder/business/provider workshops in January and February 2013; full attendance and well received (‘a really good mix of people’ Construction Skills)
  • Presented outcomes of workshops and research to NWEZ Board in February
  • Completed and published strategy on time
  • Oversaw strat of detailed action planning

New work embarked on in 2013 for South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership (SEMLEP): Apprenticeship Plan; development of Open Forum for Skills in SEMLEP; Skills plan and employer engagement work for SEMLEP.

News

Is gender a factor in road safety?

June 24, 2013 at 2:14 pm

A new report from the European Transport Safety Council ( www.etsc.eu ) published this week suggests that gender is a factor that we need to consider more fully in road safety. Across the European Union, 49% of the population is …
Read more →

Apprentices… apprentices… apprentices…

March 8, 2013 at 5:01 pm

Our economy needs more technically trained people if it is to grow …
Read more →

How Safe Can the Roads Be?

March 8, 2013 at 12:07 pm

Can we really achieve zero death and serious injury on our roads?
Read more →