Committee 2009
Sir Michael Bichard KCB
Michael Bichard has worked throughout his career in the public sector - twenty years in Local Government and nearly ten in Central Government. He was Chief Executive of Brent and Gloucestershire Local Authorities and in 1990 became Chief Executive of the Government´s Benefits Agency.
In 1995 he was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Employment Department and then the Department for Education and Employment. Michael received a Knighthood in the Queen´s Birthday Honours 1999.
In May 2001 he left the Civil Service and in September 2001 was appointed Rector of The London Institute, the largest Art and Design Institute in Europe, which in May 2004 became University of the Arts London.
In January 2004 he was appointed by the Home Office to chair the Soham/Bichard Inquiry and on 1 April 2005 he became Chair of the Legal Services Commission. He was appointed as Chair of the Design Council on 1 January 2008. He retires as Rector of University of the Arts London at the end of August and takes up the post of Director of the Institute for Government from 1 September 2008.