Trainers
Nick Auer (ACA)
Management and procurement training consultant
Nick Auer is a highly experienced management consultant with over 16 years experience across all sectors specialising in learning and development. He has deep expertise in implementing and evaluating training strategies within central and local government organisations as well as the private sector. Nick specialises in delivering procurement and contract management training, finance training for non-finance managers and budget management training.
Nick is a qualified accountant (ICAEW), Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and Prince 2 Practitioner.
Subject area and courses
Caroline Ball
Legal and parliamentary training consultant
Caroline Ball is a barrister and retired Senior Civil Servant in the Government Legal Service. Caroline joined the Legal Adviser’s branch of the Home Office in 1971 where she worked until 2004, leading on a variety of issues. She gained promotion to the SCS in 1995. Caroline has extensive experience of the legislative process, both primary and secondary, having worked on numerous Parliamentary Bills, both in the drafting stages and during proceedings in both Houses, and drafted a large number of complex statutory instruments. Since 2004 Caroline has worked exclusively in the learning and development field. She is an Associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and now works as an independent training consultant.
Subject area and courses
Chris Barnes
Policy and communications training consultant
Chris Barnes CB is an experienced facilitator, coach, mentor and trainer with a public sector background (government & NHS) and commercial & Board experience. In his last civil service post he was Corporate Affairs Director of a core department. He then became a non-executive Director and subsequently Chair of a Health Authority. He chaired two Limited Companies in the food and rural affairs sector and helped to launch the Red Tractor food assurance initiative, working closely with the major food retailers, other key players in the food chain, Defra and No 10. He was Managing Director of a business consultancy and a Director of its parent Group and has delivered many assignments in the UK and overseas.
He now helps those new to the Civil Service and professionals such as social scientists, organisational researchers, natural scientists, lawyers, statisticians and economists to relate to and influence policymakers and Ministers in the interest of improving evidence-based policymaking. Since taking early retirement he has also worked with senior staff in almost all government departments and many agencies, assisting them to come to terms with changing circumstances and coaching them on their marketability. He facilitates workshops and conferences for government departments including the Department of Health, the NHS and other organisations.
Subject area and courses
Tory Batten
Stakeholder engagement training consultant
Tory Batten specialises in stakeholder engagement, including partnership working, reputation risk and related organisational change. Tory uses meaningful insights based on sound evidence to deliver practical outcomes and creative solutions, drawing on existing good practice. Formerly an archaeologist and award-winning television producer, Tory’s expertise in stakeholder mapping and engagement has a practical foundation. Over the past 10 years, Tory Batten has focused on business relationships within and between organisations and getting these to work more effectively using bespoke tools, processes, practical guidance, skills development and through helping to embed a behavioural approach.
Her work in the public sector (including the Home Office, UK Border Agency, Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, Ministry of Justice and Department of Children, Schools and Families) gives her particular insight both into some of the relationship challenges faced by complex and high-profile organisations, and workable solutions.
Subject area and courses
- Stakeholder Engagement
Michelle Battye
Policy training consultant
Michelle has diverse professional experience of European affairs in a variety of policy areas (employment, social affairs, health and health and safety and EU regional policy). She started her career with the Department for Work and Pensions which included a secondment to the European Commission for three years where she worked on the European Employment Strategy.
Michelle was asked by the Belgian Minister to join his EU Presidency Taskforce, where she was project manager for three EU Presidency conferences. Michelle also has experience of working at regional level, working for the Mayor of London in London’s European Office in Brussels. Michelle then went to work for the Chief Executives of the five Strategic Health Authorities in London advising them on EU policy that would impact on the NHS.
Subject area and courses
Kim Belcher
Project management training consultant
After spending almost 30 years in the Metropolitan Police Service, Kim retired as Head of the Forensic Faculty. Kim was a founder member and Senior manager on the Executive Management Team of the Crime Academy. During the last four years he has worked with most central and some local Government Departments throughout the UK, delivering Project Management training at a foundation level, giving a comprehensive and practical understanding of the components, processes and techniques required for successful delivery of projects in both the workplace and personal life.
Subject area and courses
Helen Bennett
Legal training consultant
Helen Bennett MA, a barrister, is a former senior government lawyer who has worked for bodies across Whitehall, including the Department of the Environment, the Wales Office, the Civil Service College, the Parliamentary Ombudsman and the Office of Rail Regulation. She now works as a legal awareness training consultant, and sits as a member on Employment Tribunals.
Subject area and courses
Martyn Bond
European training consultant
Martyn Bond, former Head of UK European Parliament Office; Director, Information Europe Ltd; Special Adviser, The Federal Trust
Martyn Bond currently works as Special Adviser on Publications and Enlargement for The Federal Trust for Education and Research in London. He was formerly Director of the Trust from 1999 to 2002, and before that was Director of the European Parliament Office in the United Kingdom for ten years. He worked in Brussels in the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers from 1974 to 1989, with a short break to represent the BBC in Berlin from 1981 to 1983.
Subject area and courses
Mara Broome
Policy training consultant
Mara left the civil service in late 2009 after a long career working in two large policy and delivery departments, and a secondment to a non-departmental public body. Her roles included Private Secretary to the then Secretary of State for Social Security, working with Ministers on major policy reviews (including the development and delivery of the necessary primary and secondary legislative changes), and strategic and financial planning. She has an excellent understanding of the way in which departments and Parliament work, including funding and audit mechanisms. She also has extensive experience and skills in all aspects of policy making, including developing and assessing options, writing submissions, briefing Ministers, and working with stakeholders within and outside government.
Subject area and courses
Jonathan Bottomer
Lean training consultant
Jonathan Bottomer and Cheryl Weaver are both business consultants, working within the civil service as Lean advisers. They specialise in helping Local Authorities (and departmental agencies) improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of Housing and Council Tax Benefits. This includes the detection, deterrence and prevention of fraud.
Jonathan has developed and successfully delivers (with Cheryl) a bespoke programme to enable Local Authorities to apply Lean (Systems Thinking) and significantly improve levels of customer satisfaction and business efficiency. The programme is designed to transfer skills to organisations so they become self-sufficient in the application of the Lean (Systems Thinking) as a management system. Cheryl and Jonathan are both members of the Institute of Business Consulting (an organisation within the Chartered Management Institute), the professional body for business consultants.
Subject area and courses
Susan Calthorpe
Policy & Communications Training Consultant; Director
Susan worked as a regional and national newspaper journalist prior to setting up the full-service communications company, now established for 23 years, of which she is still a Director.
An expert in persuasive written and oral communications and linguistic techniques, Susan’s recent clients include Aston Martin, Fujifilm, BP, Wimpey Homes, la Fitness, Wates, Areva T&D, British Airways, Marks and Spencer, London Underground, Leo Burnett, Eastman Dental Institute, the Wine Institute of California, Shelter and the Law Society. She has worked with most government departments and has recently undertaken particular projects with the Home Office, HMRC, HMT, MOD, DFID and the IPO.
Her private sector work has encompassed a range of communications techniques addressing behavioural change issues to optimise clients’ interactions with their customer bases and to deliver business objectives.
Subject area and courses
Matthew Cocks
Policy and European training consultant
Matthew Cocks is an independent adviser on government, European Union and trade issues. He was formerly a senior civil servant in the Department for Trade and Industry, leaving in 2003 after 23 years. He has extensive policy expertise including posts in industrial, regulatory and trade policy areas, central departmental finance, DTI’s Policy Planning Unit and the Minister for Trade’s Private Office. He has also worked in Brussels in the UK Representation and the European Commission.
Matthew rejoined the civil service on a short term contract from 2007 to 2008 to work in the Better Regulation Executive in BERR on relations between local and national regulators. His work as an independent includes teaching EU negotiating skills in the UK, Romania, Moldova and Latvia and being a specialist adviser to the House of Lords European Union Committee inquiry into the WTO.
Subject area and courses
Resli Costabell
Personal development training consultant
Resli Costabell is an award-winning speaker, trainer and coach. She works with people who want to be more effective or feel more fulfilled. Resli is known for her entertaining style, high level of interaction with participants, supportiveness and ‘stop you in your tracks’ questions that lead to genuine insights.
Resli’s background includes a four year honours degree studying psychology, NLP certification, and 10 years of designing and facilitating coaching and group dynamics sessions. She works with a broad range of clients, from blue chips such as IBM, Ford Motor Company and Caterpillar, to SMEs, prison inmates, homeless women and Samaritans.
Subject area and courses
David Cotton
Management training consultant
David Cotton is a former consultant with Arthur Andersen and PricewaterhouseCoopers where he led a team of 100 trainers in 26 countries. He now runs his own successful training consultancy. David’s client portfolio reads like a Who’s Who of national and local government departments and multinational corporations in the UK and overseas. An award-winning author, David brings elements of linguistics, NLP, psychology and hypnotic language patterning to create a fascinating approach to communications training.
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John Eastmead
European training consultant
John Eastmead’s Civil Service career included several years in the DTI (now BIS), both as professional trainer and Brussels practitioner, negotiating at both Commission and Council Working Groups.
From 1992 until 2001 he was Senior Lecturer in European Policy and Government at the National School of Government and Course Director for the European Fast Stream. Since 2002 John has been an independent EU training consultant.
Subject area and courses
Fiona Field
Procurement training Consultant
Fiona has over 10 years of practical procurement experience delivering open and bespoke training programmes across central Government. She specialising in procurement and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.
Fiona worked as a programme director at the former Civil Service College for six years, running the OGC certificate in Competence in Procurement. During her time she successfully delivered a variety of programmes on UK and EU procurement and worked with a range of clients designing and tailoring bespoke training projects. She was a member of the examination board for the Certificate in Competence in Procurement.
Subject area and courses
Dr Nigel Forman
Former MP and Minister
Nigel is an experienced trainer in the following areas: Parliament and politics, European Union, the constitution, legislation, policy development and evaluation, Whitehall, media, working with Ministers. Dr Nigel Forman was Conservative MP for Carshalton and Wallington from 1976 to 1997.
He was Minister for Further and Higher Education at the then Department of Education and before that had been Parliamentary Private Secretary to Lord Carrington at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and to Nigel Lawson at the Treasury.He is the author, with Nicholas Baldwin, of Mastering British Politics, (5th edition, Macmillan, 2007) and Constitutional Change in the United Kingdom (Routledge, 2002).He has taught at several universities and is an honorary senior research fellow at the Constitution Unit, University College London.
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Richard Hillsdon
Policy and communication training consultant
Richard Hillsdon, has had over 25 years’ experience as an occupational psychologist, trainer, coach and counsellor, as well as policy civil servant. His training, coaching and consultancy work has included policy development, selection, career development, communications, performance management, privatisation, and pay and reward systems in over 40 government departments and agencies as well as the private sector and local government.
His career includes being Principal Psychologist in the Ministry of Defence and Head of the MOD’s Personnel Management Support Group. In the last 10 years, he has specialised in the design and delivery of training in policy development skills to civil servants up to SCS level. His most recent work has been on developing the relationship between professional staff and policy civil servants to improve the evidence-base and an audit trail of policy. He has also been a consultant on client management and customer delivery to the National Audit Office and the House of Commons. He has recently worked closely with the London Business School as a facilitator for executive development in the private sector, notably with British Airways, General Motors and Lloyds TSB Group. He has provided one-to-one coaching at board level for, amongst others, the present board of M&S, Severn Trent Water, Central Television and Sainsburys.
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Peter Howarth
Procurement and contract management expert
Peter Howarth is an experienced trainer, who provides bespoke procurement and contract management courses. His independent clients include a large number of public sector organisations, local authorities and increasingly private sector clients.
Peter is currently the CEO of the Society of Procurement Officers in Local Government and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). He was previously in Local Government having worked for, Suffolk County Council where he was Director of Strategic Management and Shropshire County Council. In his role at Suffolk he worked in close proximity with Borough and District councils on a number of policy and process issues ranging from regeneration to communication. He believes passionately that good procurement and contract management can help public sector organisations deliver the effective services and community benefits that everyone desires. This is reflected in the way that he delivers training and development courses for the public sector.
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Judith Jewell
Management Development Consultant
Judith’s particular interests are management and personal development; writing and business skills; mentoring; team building and team development; creative thinking.
Judith started her working life in the Department of Health as an auditor - not considered one of the most popular professions. But it did provide plenty of experience of systems, of management, and in dealing with difficult situations. A career change saw her move into Learning and Development and starting her own company. She likes to get involved in things - she is a magistrate on Kingston-upon-Thames bench and a member of Kingston Racial Equality Council, as well as enjoying more creative pursuits like cooking and eating adventurously.
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Jonathan Kemp
Personal Development training Consultant
Jonathan Kemp has been helping clients increase their productivity and efficiency in knowledge-intensive environments since 1999. In addition to delivering successful training programmes, he provides bespoke training and consulting services, including working one-to-one with senior executives to help them focus on delivering their key strategies. He has developed and perfected his note-taking system over the past ten years which is used by many clients in professional and financial organisations.
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Kate Marshall
Director, Enterprise Team, Better Regulation Executive
Kate Marshall is currently a Director in the Better Regulation Executive. Her team works with a range of departments and regulators - including BERR, the Government Equalities Office, DCMS and OFT - to improve regulatory outcomes for the UK. She previously worked on financial services regulation in the Treasury, and before that corporate law and governance in the former DTI.
Before joining the Civil Service in 2003, Kate worked in the Australian media industry. She spent 4 years with the Macquarie Radio Network, 9 with the Seven Television Network and 3 with a boutique publishing agency, Text Media. She has an MBA from Macquarie University and read History at London University.
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Lex McKee
Personal development training consultant
Lex McKee is author of critically acclaimed ‘The Accelerated Trainer’ and ‘7 Ways to Upgrade Your Brain’. Lex is CEO of his own company which specialises in applications of Accelerated Learning. One of only two Buzan Master Trainers in the UK, he has helped thousands of individuals read faster with higher comprehension, mind map their way to success, and use their brains for a change!
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Hilary Menhennet
B. A. (Hons), DipBus, DipM, MCIM, Chartered Marketer
Hilary has a marketing management background, having started her career as a promotion writer and communications campaign manager. Before embarking on a training career, Hilary worked in international publishing, managing marketing teams. She has marketed to educational departments in the public and private sectors, and provided marketing consultancy and training to overseas companies.
During her training experience, Hilary has developed a particular interest in our communication skills as these underpin our technical skills and have dramatic impact on our overall success. She has trained widely in the public sector for 10 years. Recent clients include Faber Maunsell, Ford Financial, HM Revenue and Customs, KPMG, The Cabinet Office, The Houses of Parliament and Virgin plc.
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George Oliver MBE
Parliament and Government training consultant
George Oliver worked at the former Department for Education for 23 years. He spent 11 years working in a parliamentary environment, 5 years as an Assistant and then Deputy Parliamentary Clerk to the last Labour administration, one year as Assistant Private Secretary to the Minister for Higher Education and Civil Science and 5 years as Parliamentary Clerk to successive Secretaries of State and junior Ministers. George is currently an independent consultant who arranges, runs seminars and speaks on all aspects of Parliamentary procedure. He was elected to Crawley Borough Council in May 1998 to May 2002.
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Paul Richards
Communications and policy training consultant
Paul is a former Special Adviser who worked at a number of government departments. Prior to that he worked for Lewisham Council, Barnet Council, Waltham Forest Council, and the Association of County Councils, as well as the RNID and English Partnerships. He has served as the chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students, as Chair of the Fabian Society and as a parliamentary candidate in the 1997 and 2001 general elections.
Paul has written extensively on political and public policy themes, including articles, pamphlets and two books: ‘Be Your Own Spin Doctor’, and ‘How to Win an Election’. He has also edited a published collection of the previous Prime Minister's articles and speeches in ‘Tony Blair: In His Own Words’. Paul has appeared on Today, Newsnight, This Morning, and the Moral Maze.
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Clare Shaw
Policy skills training consultant
Clare Shaw joined the Civil Service as a member of the Government Statistical Service (GSS), working in the Departments of Environment and Transport. She moved to a policy role combining this with an Overnight Duty Officer role for Environment, Transport and Energy. She moved into training firstly within those Departments and later at the Civil Service College.
Clare is now an Independent Consultant designing and delivering training events across the public sector in policy and management. Recent projects include designing and delivering training on Analysis and Use of Evidence; Evidence Based Policy Making; Framework of Government. She also tutors on Management Development events for the Civil Service Fast Stream and long term development programmes for Specialists.
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Tony Shaw
Director of Development, Westminster Explained
Tony took over as Director of Development at Westminster Explained in May 2007. Tony’s 30 year career in the Civil Service started in the Department for Health and Social Security (now DWP) where he worked in operational postings then UK and international policy divisions. He spent three years in Ministers’ Private Offices working as a Private Secretary for three government ministers. In 1997 he was appointed Training Adviser at DWP Headquarters where he introduced new programmes on working with ministers. In 2000 he moved to the National School of Government where he designed, developed and delivered learning and development programmes on policy communications, policy development and the machinery of government.
He has a long and successful record of designing bespoke and tailored learning solutions for clients both in the UK and overseas. His portfolio includes workings with all major Government Departments, Agencies as well as private sector companies, charities and overseas representations.
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Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP
Parliament and Government training consultant
Jacqui Smith entered Parliament as MP for Redditch, Inkberrow, Feckenham and Cookhill in 1997. Since becoming an MP Jacqui has served on the Treasury Select Committee and was promoted to government in 1999. She served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education, Minister of State for Health with responsibility for Social Services, Minister of State at the Department for Trade and Industry and Deputy Minister for Women and Minister of State for Schools. In May 2006 the Prime Minister asked her to join the Cabinet as Chief Whip. In October 2008 she was named in his cabinet as Home Secretary on 6th October 2008. Jacqui is the first woman in British History to fill this post. Jacqui stepped down from the role in 2009 after two years in post.
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Rob Smith
Former Director General, Department of Communities and Local Government
Rob was a career civil servant from 1974 until the end of 2005. He was first assigned to the Northern Ireland Office (1974-81) where he held a number of posts in Belfast and London. He then moved to the Department for Education, where he worked on higher education policy and became principal private secretary to the Secretary of State (first Sir Keith Joseph and then Kenneth Baker). After 1997 he worked on out-of-school activities and business links, and on establishing cross-departmental programmes such as "SureStart" and "Connexions".
In 2000 he was appointed the first Director General for the Government Offices of the Regions and worked at Board Level in three Departments in this capacity before becoming Director General for Regional Development in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Subject area and courses
Linda Screen
Local government training consultant
Linda is an experienced speaker on local and regional government, the third sector and Local Strategic Partnerships. A former Head of Policy and Performance at Bridgnorth District and Dorset County Council with interim experience in South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority, Linda has built up a wealth of knowledge in several areas. These include senior management, corporate planning and performance, Sustainable Community Strategies, Local Area Agreements, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships, strategic policy development and scrutiny.
Subject area and courses
Shani Sparkes
Personal development training consultant
Shani Sparkes is a director of a business that specialises in sales management and sales development and coaching in the private and public sector. Shani has many years’ experience working with thousands of individuals in the UK, Europe and the U.S. delivering improved leadership, sales and management skills, and increasing personal and organisational performance.
Subject area and courses
Judith Stewart
Management and personal development training consultant
Judith Stewart is an experienced trainer, coach and consultant with over 28 years’ experience of training in both the public and private sectors. She has worked with the Civil Service as a trainer since 1986 and has run courses on the whole range of management and personal development, communication and interpersonal skills for MOD, DVLA, Defra, Food Standards Agency, Highways Agency, HM Revenue and Customs, DCLG, Highways Agency, HM Treasury and Government Offices.
Subject area and courses
Keith Tanner
Management and personal development training consultant
Keith Tanner is a director of his own consultancy that specialises in management and behavioural skills training and development. Keith’s client portfolio includes large corporate clients, public sector agencies, and national charitable trusts as well as many small businesses and developing social enterprises. An award-winning author, Keith brings elements of linguistics, NLP, psychology and therapeutic techniques into his training to create a motivational approach to behaviour and communication skills training.
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Tess Thompson
Senior OD and Training Consultant
Tess has extensive experience in design, facilitation and delivery of key change programmes and effective management development interventions. Her particular strengths include Change Management, Performance Management, Leadership Development, customer care programmes and creating competency frameworks. She has worked in Europe, delivered programmes with multi-national delegates and has created plenty of innovative Performance Management system and customer care programmes.
Subject area and courses
Mike Watts
Head of Parliamentary Unit, Westminster Explained
Mike Watts worked at the Department for Education for 21 years. He had varied posts in the Department, working mostly in Private Office in roles such as Dairy Manager, Assistant Private Secretary, Cabinet Documents Officer and in July 1995 he became Deputy Parliamentary Clerk for the Department of Education and Employment. He became Lords Researcher for Baroness Ashton’s PO at the Department for Education and Skills and then from January 2005 onwards he worked as a Parliamentary Clerk for the Department for Education and Skills, followed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and joint working with the Dept for Innovation, Universities and Skills. He is now Head of Parliamentary Unit at Westminster Explained.
Subject area and courses
Cheryl Weaver
Lean training consultant
Jonathan Bottomer and Cheryl Weaver are both business consultants, working within the civil service as Lean advisers. They specialise in helping Local Authorities (and departmental agencies) improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the administration of Housing and Council Tax Benefits. This includes the detection, deterrence and prevention of fraud.
Jonathan has developed and successfully delivers (with Cheryl) a bespoke programme to enable Local Authorities to apply Lean (Systems Thinking) and significantly improve levels of customer satisfaction and business efficiency. The programme is designed to transfer skills to organisations so they become self-sufficient in the application of the Lean (Systems Thinking) as a management system. Cheryl and Jonathan are both members of the Institute of Business Consulting (an organisation within the Chartered Management Institute), the professional body for business consultants.
Subject area and courses
Roberta Woodcock
Financial training consultant
Roberta is a freelance training consultant, holding a post graduate diploma from Cambridge University. Prior to starting her own company she worked extensively in public sector finance, including HM Treasury, and has experience of the private sector having worked for accountancy practice and a FTSE100 treasury department. She specialises in public sector finance training and organisational development. She is a CiPFA lecturer in Public Finance and Governance and Public Policy modules. She is currently undertaking a range of assignments with central government agencies and NDPBs.
Subject area and courses
Our trainers
- Nick Auer
- Caroline Ball
- Chris Barnes
- Tory Batten
- Michelle Battye
- Kim Belcher
- Helen Bennett
- Martyn Bond
- Mara Broome
- Jonathan Bottomer
- Susan Calthorpe
- Matthew Cocks
- Stella Collins
- Resli Costabell
- David Cotton
- John Eastmead
- Fiona Field
- Dr Nigel Forman
- Richard Hillsdon
- Peter Howarth
- Judith Jewell
- Jonathan Kemp
- Kate Marshall
- Lex McKee
- Hilary Menhennet
- George Oliver MBE
- Paul Richards
- Clare Shaw
- Tony Shaw
- Jacqui Smith
- Rob Smith
- Linda Screen
- Shani Sparkes
- Judy Stewart
- Keith Tanner
- Tess Thompson
- Mike Watts
- Cheryl Weaver
- Roberta Woodcock
Enquire Now
- Call us now on 020 7593 5550.
- Email us at info@westminster-explained.co.uk.
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