Alan Bennett Email and Phone Number

As Senior Programme Delivery Manager I lead a team of 17 remote staff through 4 direct reports to deliver our Early Years, Community Impact (Social Action) and Member Support work in relation to programme delivery for 4-24 year olds.I am responsible for:- Leading the delivery of partnerships, initiatives and projects related to programme elements of our strategic plan, supporting a programme design function that designs, tests, implements and evaluates programme innovations.- Leading the creation and delivery of our strategy to support adult volunteers to deliver existing programme initiatives, ensuring at all times that enquiries are handled well, performance at any given time is transparent and insights drive continuous improvements.- Working with partners from the voluntary sector, public sector and business community to enrich and enhance the organisation’s impact on young people and communities, ensuring that constructive relationships exist to realise as much benefit from these partnerships as possible.Achievements include:- Leading a team to roll out scouting’s newest section ‘Squirrels’ (4-5 year olds) across the UK with over 18,000 young people across 1,700 new units with 24% of these being based in the 30% most deprived wards across the UK; and 34% of these new units having at least 10% of young people from a Black, Asian and minority ethnic background. - 48% of young people undertook a Youth Social Action project in the past 12 months- Achieving Gold at the Corporate Engagement Awards for the HSBC Money Skills partnership which has provided over 80,000 young people with money skills for life.- 4,009 young people achieved a Duke of Edinburgh Award in the past 12 months- Delivered a Programme Conference to over 170 volunteer Programme Leads to support them in the strategic planning of delivering a programme to 4-24 year olds- Introduction of the Environmental Programme Initiative ‘Earth Tribe’

As Interim Senior Programme Delivery Manager I led a team of people to deliver our Early Years, Community Impact (Social Action) and Member Support work in relation to programme delivery for 4-24 year olds.

As Programme Delivery Manager (Early Years), I am honoured to lead and manage nine Programme Delivery Executives to roll out The Scouts newest provision across the UK, Squirrels (4 and 5 year olds). We work closely with our volunteers and partners to help us deliver on our strategy of rolling out Squirrel Scouts to at least 940 communities and 12,000 young people up until 2023. Experience gained and achievements in the role:- Played a key collaborative role in the launch of The Scouts first new section for over 30 years - Squirrel Scouts. This was featured on all national breakfast news programme and in several national newspapers- Leading a remote team of nine Programme Delivery Executives to the opening of over 700 Squirrel Dreys in seven months with 27% of these opening in the top 30% of the most deprived areas of the UK- Worked on the successful merger between 79 groups in Northern Ireland and The Scout Association- Stakeholder management across all levels of the organisation and with external funders - Creation of high quality digital resources and processes in collaboration with our Digital Team to ensure any Squirrel provision open is of high quality and sustainable- Recruitment, induction, development and on-going support of nine Programme Delivery Executives

I worked in partnership with Scout volunteers, Department for Education, Center for Research in Early Childhood (CREC) and Action For Children to test 20 pilots in Early Years Scouting over an 18 months period.The pilot was a huge success and was approved by the Board of Trustees for a national roll out. I have started to work on plans and resources to implement a strategy to roll this out across the organisation over the next couple of years.Experience gained- Creating and managing internal and external stakeholder relationships- Recruitment and retention of volunteers- Recruitment of young people- Creation of recruitment materials- Opening of sustainable Early Years (4-5 year old) provision in deprived communities- Providing regular reporting on the project which met the needs of staff and volunteer colleagues, including the Project Working Group and project funder. - Worked with partners from the voluntary sector, public sector and business community to enrich and enhance the organisation’s impact on young people and communities, maintaining constructive relationships and effective communication with partners.- Creating digital content through Umbreco for staff and volunteers to use.- Worked on a project to bring a new attraction and joining process to the organisations volunteer journey process.

I supported the practical delivery of new programme materials and initiatives that are intended to bring Scouting to four and five year olds, and their families. In addition to this I supported with the recruitment and development of young people and adults, delivery of content and fostering relationships with communities.Experience gained- Managing and shortlisting over 600 expressions of interest to become a pilot.- Creating and managing internal and external stakeholder relationships.- Recruitment and retention of volunteers.- Recruitment of young people.- Creation of 50 activities as part of a programme for the 4 and 5 year olds provision.- Opening of sustainable Early Years (4-5 year old) provision in deprived communities.- Creation and delivery of training materials for volunteers.

I work alongside new and existing volunteers and in partnership with local communities, supporting the growth of local Scouting to provide life changing adventure to even more young people. This role has given me experience in:- Working with little or no budget to deliver on projects- Leading and developing teams of staff and volunteers- Working collaboratively across an organisation- Managing, leading and working effectively with volunteers- Working in new and emerging communities to open Scouting provision- Delivering Leadership and Management Training through volunteer inductions

I was a member of the school’s Learning Support Team and worked in a variety of ways to ensure that students with additional needs were fully included in the life of the learning community and had equal opportunities to fulfil their potential.

My responsibilities were to deal with the correspondence for the social workers of Care Management Teams Three and Seven. Duties include minute taking, organising meetings, sending letters and e-mails, and data input via the Integrated Children’s System.