Dr David Halpern reappointed as What Works National Adviser
The Prime Minister has appointed Dr David Halpern as What Works National Adviser following an open competition.
Dr Halpern’s 3 year appointment will take effect from October 2016. He has been What Works National Adviser since 2013 and is Chief Executive of Behavioural Insights Team.
He was the founding Director of the Institute for Government, and between 2001 and 2007 was the Chief Analyst at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit. Before entering government, Dr Halpern held tenure at Cambridge and posts at Oxford and Harvard.
He co-authored the MINDSPACE report and has written several books and papers on areas relating to behavioural insights and wellbeing, including Social Capital (2005), the Hidden Wealth of Nations (2010), and most recently a book about the team entitled Inside the Nudge Unit: How Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference.
The ‘What Works’ idea is simple: driving better spending by putting clear evidence into the hands of public service professionals and commissioners. The What Works National Adviser is a one day a week Minister of the Cabinet Office appointment to provide advice to ministers, the Cabinet Secretary and other leaders in government on what evidence shows to be both effective and cost-effective in delivering policy outcomes.