I can offer a long history of involvement in strategic policy and research matters:

• In 1994 I was seconded from a housing association to the Housing Corporation to design the SHMG review system
• In 1997 I published Who Pays For What in Supported Housing?, the major pre-Supporting People study of funding patterns in the sector.
• Between 1999 and 2003 I was closely involved with the policy development phase of Transitional Housing Benefit and then of the Supporting People regime itself.
• I served as the specialist member for Supporting People on the 2004 Beacon Council scheme.
• In 2007-8 I was part of a small team of people who undertook  three major commissions to identify support needs for the Greater London Authority, Birmingham City Council and the North West Regional Assembly
  

My approach is simple: policy research, analysis and development are not academic exercises, though sometimes academic methods must be employed. They're a guide to action. My job as a consultant is to make sure everyone makes informed policy decisions and, as far as possible, to make sure they understand the likely consequences  of these decisions.