Michael Bichard

Michael George Bichard, Baron Bichard, KCB, (born 31 January 1947) is a former public servant in the United Kingdom, first in local and then as a civil servant in central government. He was Director of the Institute for Government, currently serves as one of its first 'fellows' and was Chair of the Design Council. He was a created a crossbench life peer on 24 March 2010. He is an advisor to The Key Support Services Limited, which provide leadership and management support to school leaders and governors. He became Chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) in 2013.

Bichard served as the Chief Executive of Brent Council between 1980 and 1986, and then of Gloucestershire County Council between 1986 and 1990

In 1990, he was appointed Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency.

In 1995, Bichard was made Permanent Secretary of the Department for Employment. When it merged with the Department for Education (DfE) to form the Department for Education and Employment (DfEE), he became Permanent Secretary of the combined department, under Gillian Shephard, and then, post-1997, David Blunkett. He became extremely close to Blunkett, even at one point intervening personally – according to the National press – to ensure that details of an affair that Blunkett was conducting with his Private Secretary should not become public. During his time as Permanent Secretary, he introduced several modernising reforms to the Department, notably in bringing its use of information technology and new media up to date. He oversaw some significant changes to the education policy landscape, such as the introduction of the Learning and Skills Council to fund further education and apprenticeships.

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