Clinical & Healthcare Sector: The impact of the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan on the recruitment sector

Will Laing

Operations Director, NHS Workforce Alliance

Will Laing is the Operations Director for the NHS Workforce Alliance, jointly reporting to the senior management of all five partner organisations, and responsible for the overall success of the Alliance in driving positive outcomes across all areas of workforce management for the NHS.

Previously, Will was the Account Director - Department of Health and Social Care for Crown Commercial Service, during a period when the commercial engagement with the health sector grew significantly.

Will has an extensive background in NHS procurement since taking his first role with NHS Supplies Northwest division in 1995. From 2000 to 2010, Will worked in various commercial and managerial roles in the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA), which has given him insight into the challenges and opportunities in the NHS.

An MBA graduate of Manchester Business School, Will enjoys football, reading, music, cinema, and cooking in his spare time.

William L Palmer

Senior Fellow in Health Policy, Nuffield Trust 

Billy Palmer joined the Nuffield Trust in April 2018 as a Senior Fellow in Health Policy. At the Nuffield Trust his focus is on, but not limited to, the NHS workforce.

Prior to joining the Trust, Billy spent over a decade at the National Audit Office producing reports for Parliament on the value-for-money of different aspects of the health service in England. These mixed-methods studies included a range of key issues such as:

• income (e.g. the funding allocations);
• staffing (e.g. workforce contracts and the supply of NHS clinical staff); and
• clinical effectiveness (e.g. stroke care and maternity services).

Other previous work includes a performance audit of a UN peacekeeping service on the Israel-Syria border and as a visiting research fellow at the Brocher Foundation in Geneva.

Billy has a PhD in health service research from Imperial College, London, where he currently also holds an Honorary Research Fellowship. His academic background also includes Masters degrees in both mathematics from Cambridge University and in global politics from Southampton University. More impressive than all of that, he has an Erdős–Bacon number of 7.

Keith Rosser

Director of Reed Screening, Director Group Risk, Reed

Keith is a labour market expert with over 20 years’ experience. He runs Reed Screening an employment vetting business he founded in 2012 for Reed, the British family-owned recruitment business, growing it from scratch to annual turnover of over £7m. He is a Non-Executive Board Member with the GLAA, part of UK Home Office, and a Non-Executive Board Member with the Scottish Government. Keith is Chair of the Better Hiring Institute, an entity set up as a partnership between UK Government and industry to help modernise hiring, and Chair of JobsAware: a social enterprise that has helped over 2m job seekers and flexible workers in need of help. JobsAware has featured in every DLME UK Labour Market Strategy since its inception. Keith received a Commendation Award from the UK Home Office and was recognised as a Community Leader by HRH the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Keith is also an Honorary Fellow of Lancaster University for his work on labour market reform. Keith is an Officer of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Modernising Employment in Westminster and is also the Compliance+ independent Chair of APSCo’s Education, Social Work, and Healthcare Committees.