Nick Pearce

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Revolving Door.jpg This article is part of the Revolving Door project of Spinwatch.



Nick Pearce is a former special adviser to the Labour Party[1] and current director of "left-leaning" think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).

Background

Pearce studied at Manchester, then Oxford University. He now lives with his wife in South London.[2] Pearce is a former Chair of the Advisory Board to the UK Chief Scientist's Foresight Progamme. He served on the Equalities Review and the Teaching & Learning 2020 Review. He is on the board of the Royal Institute of British Architects Trust and the UK-India Roundtable.[3]

Revolving door: Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Labour

Previously a Research Fellow at IPPR,[4] Pearce was also a Labour Party adviser during Opposition then the Labour Government when he worked for MPs David Blunkett and Ann Taylor.[5] As Times Education Supplement journalist Jon Slater notes, "Relations between the two bodies [IPPR and the Department for Education and Skills] are close enough to allow IPPR research fellows to moonlight in Labour's innovations unit".[6]

In August 1998, Pearce returned to the IPPR;[7] but in July 1999, came back to work for the Labour Party. From 1999 to 2001, Pearce was a special adviser in the Department for Education and Employment. He then followed David Blunkett to the Home Office where he worked from 2001 to 2003.[8]

In September 2003, Pearce returned to the IPPR where he worked as Director until 2007.[9]

From 2007 to 2010, Pearce was Head of the Policy Unit at No. 10.[10] Describing life in Downing Street under Gordon Brown, Pearce remarked that "There was a year which was frankly awful. Staff morale was not high and it was not the sort of functioning operation that you would want."[11]

He rejoined the IPPR in September 2010, replacing former job-sharing co-directors Carey Oppenheim and Lisa Harker. Pearce said:

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink and renew progressive ideas in this country, and it is my ambition that the IPPR will be at the heart of that process: unashamedly reformist, open and pluralist, but always grounded in strong values and rigorous research.[12]

Contact, Resources, Notes

Contact

Email: n.pearce AT ippr.org
Blog: http://www.ippr.org.uk/Blogs/NickPearce

Resources

Notes

  1. Info-Dynamics Research, "Where are they now? The 1997/1998 Special Advisers to the Labour Government", GMB: April 2006 Briefing, p10, accessed 20.09.10
  2. Staff writers, "Nick Pearce", The Guardian, accessed 21.09.10
  3. Institute for Public Policy Research, "Nick Pearce", accessed 21.09.10
  4. Josh Hillman and Nick Pearce, "Josh Hillman and Nick Pearce argue the benefits of a new consumer culture among students", The Guardian, 22.07.97
  5. Mark Henderson and Adam Sherwin, "Revealed: the whiz-kids who really run Britain", The Times, 09.07.1999
  6. Jon Slater, "Meshed in web of power", Times Education Supplement, 22.07.05, accessed 21.09.10
  7. Staff writers, "Wonk's return; Antithesis", The Times Higher Educational Supplement, 21.08.98
  8. Info-Dynamics Research, "Where are they now? The 1997/1998 Special Advisers to the Labour Government", GMB: April 2006 Briefing, p10, accessed 20.09.10
  9. Alan Thomson, "Taylor Set To Advise Blair", The Times Higher Education Supplement, 12.09.03
  10. Institute for Public Policy Research, "Nick Pearce", accessed 21.09.10
  11. David Hughes, "Life in Downing Street under Gordon Brown was even worse than we thought", The Telegraph, 21.09.10, accessed 21.09.10
  12. PAN Staff, "Purnell and Pearce to take up top IPPR roles", Public Affairs News, 29.07.10, accessed 21.09.10