Richard McGagh

I led the internal communications and engagement team at Ofsted, ensuring all employees received timely, relevant and engaging information in order to be effective frontline ambassadors. I provided strategic communications advice to the senior leadership team in order to create and share a strong strategic narrative about the organisation and its purpose. I engaged with managers at all levels to ensure they were confident and supported in their communications with staff and I worked to promote peer to peer communications, giving staff a voice and the opportunity to provide informed feedback as well as being part of developing solutions. I worked to build and promote organisational integrity, embedding our values and behaviours and reducing the gap between rhetoric and reality. I led all communications and engagement activity to our 1800 employees and 2,000 contracted inspectors. I was part of the crisis management team and led the communications work in response to COVID-19.

I led the Internal Communications team at Ofsted, ensuring all employees receive timely and relevant information in order to be effective frontline ambassadors. I provide strategic communications advice to the senior leadership team and work with colleagues across all teams and grades to evaluate the impact of the communications. Key responsibilities of this role include: * leading on the development and implementation of high quality and innovative internal communications strategies, plans, policies, procedures, tools and guidance * working closely as a business partner with the Chief Operating Officer (COO) and the wider COO team to develop and manage communications within the directorate, ensuring they are timely, within budget, innovative and effective * leading on the development, implementation and evaluation of a range of knowledge and communication projects, including events, campaigns and consultations * producing and delivering engaging presentations to internal and external audiences on a variety of projects as required * identifying the most appropriate and innovative communications tools and channels to suit the audience * providing internal communications and employee engagement advice to senior leaders in the organisation * being responsible for the continual improvement of Ofsted’s internal communications channels, working with colleagues in External Communications and elsewhere to ensure that the tools we use are fit for purpose and provide value for money * being a proactive member of the People Group Senior Management Team * effectively lead, line manage and develop the internal communications team * build and maintain effective stakeholder relationships both internally and externally where appropriate

I was responsible for developing and delivering the communications strategy for the governments flagship school building programme - the £2.4bn Priority School Building Programme (PSBP). This included all internal communications across the EFA and DfE and all stakeholder communications with the trade, schools, parents and wider public. In addition I was responsible for all ministerial correspondence including preparing a weekly briefing document for the Prime Minister updating on progress ahead of PMQs, answering all PQ's, PO's and FOI's and regularly briefing the Secretary of State, Education and the Schools Minister on the programme. I successfully planned school opening events liaising with the contractor, school, technical advisors, local council and DfE press office to maximise positive press and media coverage. Also developed a social media strategy to compliment traditional channels. Other responsibilities included inducting over 100 Project Directors and Managers to the EFA, providing strategic communications advice to senior leaders and overseeing the transition of content to the new gov.uk website.

Responsible for all internal and stakeholder communications for the Agency, in particular the communications regarding the abolition of the TDA and the move of its key functions, and staff, to the Teaching Agency and wider DfE family. • Led the development and delivery of the communications strategy to all staff covering key topics such as transfer rights, pay and T&C harmonisation, voluntary release scheme, job matching process, appeal process, DfE culture, future operating models and organograms and government efficiency savings • Developed strong working relationships with CEO and Senior Leadership Team to provide communications advice at the earliest possible stage, considering how decisions would be received by colleagues and how best to present the information received via the most relevant channel • Responsible for communicating news of closure, transfer of work and business as usual updates to all corporate stakeholders. Developed hub on website as well as CEO letters to keep partners upto date and worked closely with field based colleagues to gauge feedback and to answer questions • Member of Transition and Communication Programme Boards. Worked closely with other Comms leads from GTCE, CWDC and DfE to ensure a joined up and integrated approach to both internal and stakeholders communications, sharing best practice and learning’s where possible • Management of performance and development of a team of 6 staff covering areas of such as Production, Brand, External Comms and Internal Comms / Staff Engagement • Responsible for combined budgets in excess of £2m and key contracts with numerous suppliers • Took on additional responsibility of TDA Press Office function in October 2011. • Responsible for the transfer of key communications functions, such as production and distribution of marketing literature, to DfE Shared Service provision, included closure of contracts

Responsible for developing strategic marketing and communication plans for 3 of the Agency’s priority areas – Challenging Schools, One to One Tuition and Personal Tutoring. Managing a total budget of over £1.75m, the campaigns worked across all channels of media and were based on extensive research and stakeholder insight. • Developed and delivered the TDA’s first corporate seminar as part of the integrated marketing plan to support the recruitment of teachers into schools facing challenging circumstance • Sourced high profile key note speakers from the education sector such as Sir William Atkinson, Gary Phillips and Brett Wigdortz plus over 70 high profile guests including journalists, school inspectors, headteachers and teaching trade unions • Held the event in a ‘turnaround school’ and worked with the headteacher Sally Coates to raise her and her schools (Burlington Danes) profile in the media • Managed a project team of 8 members of TDA staff plus 4 external Agencies totalling 25 staff • Seminar met and exceeded all KPI’s set and achieved over 81m opportunities to see, £400k AVE and national coverage in the Daily Mail, Metro, The Times, The Express and The Guardian plus various radio and website pieces • Launched TDA’s first Twitter account to support seminar and also microsite utilizing social engagement software such as Cover IT Live! and captured the event on videos to increase the coverage to all stakeholders

Responsible for the successful delivery of the new TDA website delivering it to scope, within budget and on time, working collaboratively with colleagues from across the Agency as well as from the contracted digital agency. The project value was £1.2m. • Asked to take on a failing project and quickly turned it around to ensure it was delivered on time, within budget and to the technical and usability specifications required • Developed close working partnership with New Media Manager to lead a project with c 15 project members and input from over 100 cross agency colleagues • Following the analysis of research and evidence, switched the design of the website from a policy based structure to a role based one – meeting users’ needs and increasing usability and navigation • Reduced total number of pages from 12,000 to 4,000 ensuring all content was relevant, upto date and written in the most effective format for the web • Ensured all search engine optimisation and external links were maintained • Developed in-house usability sessions that provided vital feedback and savings of c£20k, this is now being used as an exemplar across other projects • Various awards and recognition received post launch including: o Winner of Sitecore government website of the year 2011 o 2011 DADI awards finalist for public sector website of the year o 2011 BIMA awards finalist for public sector website of the year

Responsible for the commercial activity for the National Union of Students (NUS), in particular, sourcing new discount partners for the NUS Extra discount card, the resulting customer relationship management and also all online communication and marketing sales. • Introduced and developed a comprehensive provision of over 70 discount partners including major UK brands such as Amazon, McDonalds, Superdrug, Apple and ASOS • Worked with partners to ensure they met NUS’ ethical standards and influenced supply chain decisions with partners such as Matalan and JJB Sport • Key player in the company attracting additional income of over £7,000,000 through card sales, resulting in student union profit of over £3,000,000 in the first 3 years of the project with a projected 20% increase in card sales for year 4 • Negotiated and concluded a deal with Lloyds TSB to purchase all their new and migrating student account holders an NUS Extra card – a deal bringing in new turnover of c£500,000 and Student Union profit of £225,000 per year • Generated over £175,000 of new business each year via online marketing sales