Centre For Policy Studies

Lord Blackwell - Chairman

Lord Blackwell

Norman Blackwell was Head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit in 10 Downing Street between 1995 and 1997, and also served in the Policy unit in 1986-87.  Lord Blackwell was formerly a Partner at McKinsey & Company, international business consultants. He currently has a  range of business interests including non-executive director of Standard Life, Slough Estates plc, Interserve plc and Corporate Services Group plc. He is also a senior adviser to KPMG and a Board Member of the OFT. He was created a Life Peer in 1997.

Jill Kirby - Director

Jill Kirby

Jill Kirby was appointed Director of the Centre for Policy Studies in 2007, having chaired the Centre’s family and welfare policy group for six years. A writer and policy analyst, her publications include Choosing to be different: women, work and the family (CPS, 2003); The Price of Parenthood (CPS, 2005); The Nationalisation of Childhood (CPS, 2006) and Who Do They Think We Are (CPS 2008). Topics she has covered include taxation; welfare reform; childcare and early education; women and work; pensions; fertility and demography. She has also written on privacy and data-sharing, examining the balance of the relationship between the individual and the State. From 2005 to 2006 Jill served on the Tax Reform Commission, appointed by Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to advise the Conservative Party on the case for a flatter, fairer tax system. From 2001 to 2003 she was a Consultant to Renewing One Nation, the social affairs unit at Conservative Central Office, and a member of the Conservative Women’s Manifesto Group. She is a contributor to the national press, with many articles appearing in The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Daily Express and is frequently interviewed on the BBC and other national and local broadcast media. A graduate of Bristol University, she qualified as a solicitor in 1981 and practised in a leading City law firm as a specialist in commercial litigation and employment law.