Newton appoints Darra Singh OBE as Strategy Partner for Public Sector practice

Darra Singh has joined Newton’s Public Sector leadership team as a Strategy Partner, alongside his role as Non-Executive Director for the Bradford Children’s and Families Trust.

Darra brings over 40 years of experience across multiple sectors to his new role at Newton, including more than a decade as a Partner in EY’s UK Government and Public Sector team. Prior to this, Darra also served in several CEO roles at the Hexagon Housing Association, ASRA Greater London Housing Association, and Ealing and Luton Councils. He was also second Permanent Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions and CEO of Jobcentre Plus. During this time, he also sat as Chair for a number of public sector commissions, such as for the Riots Communities & Victims Panel, the Scottish government’s Expert Working Group on Welfare, and the Independent Commission on Local Government Finance. Darra is passionate about impacting social mobility, diversity, and cohesion, as well as improving community engagement. The depth of his varied career has enabled him to design and deliver a number of large-scale projects that have helped set the agenda for UK public services.

Commenting on his appointment, Singh said:

“As a Strategy Partner at Newton I look forward to working as part of the Public Sector leadership team to develop, support and reimagine public services, putting the needs of people and communities first. Newton has long done admirable work in the public sector as a transformation and improvement specialist, and as it continues to grow so does the opportunity to make a real difference.”

Senior Partner at Newton, Steve Phillips comments:

“I’m delighted to welcome Darra to our leadership team. Following his 40-year career across the public, private and voluntary sectors, he brings a valuable perspective which will be vital to helping shape our Public Sector offering as we continue to grow.”

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About Newton Europe

Newton is a change and transformation specialist fuelled by a fundamental belief that even the best organisations can be better.

Working in partnership with household-name clients, Newton has shaped and implemented programmes to tackle some of the most complex challenges in the UK – including across health and social care pathways, defence equipment programmes, and leading retail and manufacturing supply chains. This work has delivered real value, such as a 69% reduction in service user waiting time for one county council; over £300M in savings on a national defence programme; and £256M top line sales growth for a major retailer. Recognition for this work has fuelled growth of more than 20% per annum since the company was founded in 2001 and the organisation now has over 600 people working across the UK.

Newton believes so strongly in what can be achieved together with clients that they stand by the founding idea of Newton –guaranteeing their fees against delivering real, measurable results. This commercial approach is what sets them apart from many others in their field.