Jamie Hailstone meets Camden’s two assistant chief executives who worked for the Treasury before they took on more challenging work in local government

When it comes to navigating the ever-changing landscape of local government, every council needs a secret weapon.

Fortunately for Camden LBC, it has got not one, but two aces up its sleeve in the shape of assistant chief executives Sarah Mullen and Juliet Chua.

The two women have been job-sharing the role since March 2010, and when they are not helping councillors prepare for new economic climate, they are also bridging the gap between local and central government.

Both Mrs Mullen and Mrs Chua are on secondment from the Treasury, and have brought a wealth of Whitehall experience to the role.

Mrs Mullen has been with the Whitehall department for 11 years and has held a variety of posts. She was latterly director of public spending, and also worked on the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

Mrs Chua worked at the Treasury for six years, and her last role was team leader for local government and the regions.

Between them, the two women head up the customer, strategy and performance department at Camden, with Mrs Mullen working for the first half and the week and Mrs Chua taking over for the latter half.

Mrs Mullen joined the London borough in March 2008 as assistant chief executive, and initially worked there four days a week.

‘I had been at the Treasury for 11 years and I felt it was time for a change,’ says Mrs Mullen.

‘I was interested in getting experience in something closer to the delivery end.’ After a while, Mrs Mullen decided to reduce her working load to three days a week, so Whitehall Industries Group, which arranged the original secondment, was asked to find someone who could job-share the role.

Both women sit on the London borough’s corporate management team.

‘The biggest job of last year was helping the management team and the leadership think through how we were going to deal with a significant reduction in our budget,’ says Mrs Mullen.

‘Chief executive, Moira Gibb, wanted us to come at it from a strategic, thoughtful and planned way,’ she adds.

Mrs Chua says both have also been helping councillors explain the complexities of the budget cuts to local residents

‘We also had a new administration elected in May 2010, and we worked very closely with its members to see how they could make these savings,’ adds Mrs Mullen.

Mrs Chua says that because staff started working on savings so early, they were able to announce a £30m package of efficiencies in July, before publishing a final budget report in December.

‘What we have been doing more lately is helping the leadership, which has set a budget for three years, find out what is the vision for the borough and help everyone understand the national landscape,’ says Mrs Mullen.

The worlds of central and local government are often said to be poles apart, but Mrs Mullen says there are some similarities.

‘It’s hard to put one’s finger on the nuances,’ she says. ‘It did take me some time to get my head around the relationship with members, compared with the relationship with ministers in central government.

‘In local government, we are supporting the cabinet, but we also have to help all of the members. In central government, one supports the administration which is in place.

‘Many members work part-time and they have jobs,’ she adds. ‘They know how to run a business. They have ideas about how an organisation should be run, which one doesn’t always get in central government.’

Mrs Chua says many people in the council have been quite surprised at how well the job-share arrangement has worked.

‘Obviously, success depends on the individuals concerned, but it also depends on the organisation being ready to accept different ways of working,’ she adds.

Looking to the future, the secondment has now been extended until March 2012. One of the projects staff will be working on over the next few months is Camden LBC’s education commission, which will be chaired by former chief inspector of schools, Sir Mike Tomlinson.

The commission will be looking at the future of education in the borough in partnership with education providers, parents and businesses.

‘I have a different perspective to take back to central government, having felt what it’s like on the ground,’ concludes Mrs Mullen.