Madeline is the Programme Support Officer for SEND and Workforce at LIIA, supporting projects across both workstreams, and wider LIIA team initiatives.

Madeline has a background as a family foster carer, and her experience as an SEN/SEMH teacher during university has given her a strong foundation in understanding the challenges and opportunities within this space.

In her free time, she enjoys playing netball and going on hikes with friends.

Andy is the SEND Inclusion and Learning Programme Manager at LIIA. Developing, facilitating, and enhancing inclusive systems across children’s services ensuring positive opportunities for young people pan-London. 

He has previously been in education for twenty years, including time as a Headteacher of a SEND provision whilst also working on the SEND & AP Change Programme prior to joining LIIA. 

Outside of work, Andy enjoys sports, travel and History.

David works in the Resources and Commissioning Team, leading particularly on the Commissioning for ASD/SEMH programme and the recommissioning of the London Accommodation Pathfinder.

He has a background in Social Work and Commissioning across a number of London Boroughs, particularly focusing on placements and homes for Children Looked After and Care Leavers, and has worked jointly across Local Authorities and the NHS.

Outside of LIIA, he Chairs the Steering Group for a small VCS organisation in East London focusing on supporting children and families in the local community. He also occasionally helps some friends out by recording and producing their podcast, and does a bunch of musical things with varying levels of volume and success!

David.Garland@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Ben Byrne

Ben Byrne is the Director of LIIA. He has worked as a social worker, youth offending team manager and probation officer in London and the South East of England and has led services for young people, families and early help. Ben is focused on developing integrated, restorative and relational ways of working with adolescents. Ben leads on the Adolescent Safeguarding Priority.

Outside of LIIA, Ben is a trustee of the National Association for Youth Justice and served as a member of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales from 2018-2021 where he led on the development of the ‘child first’ principle. 

Ben is also a published author and has published works in relation to youth justice and safeguarding young people. In 2022 he released his debut novel ‘Hidden harm’, which draws on his significant experience in social work. A percentage of the proceeds from this book will be donated to charities working to end domestic abuse and violence against women.

ben.byrne@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Karla Goodman

Karla Goodman is the Director of Practice for LIIA and leads the Your Choice Programme with Isabelle Gregory. She has responsibility for implementation, oversight, coordination and quality assurance of Programme across London.

Karla is a Forensic Psychologist with a Doctorate from University of Nottingham, with a background in practice working within Youth Justice in both London and the South East. Karla is passionate about providing accessible, evidence based interventions that meet those in need where they are at.

She has a desire to contribute to creating a more compassionate world, where individuals are able to contribute to and are embraced within their communities, helping them discover their own purpose.

In her personal life, Karla is very active and is always hiking, running, climbing or skiing, often fundraising for causes close to her heart.

karla.goodman@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Matthew Raleigh

Matt Raleigh is Programme Lead for LIIA, working closely with Directors of Children’s Services, Senior Officers and Services across the London region to support our priorities and ensure effective stakeholder involvement, consultation and communication.  

Matt has a BA in Community Justice Studies and a Diploma in Probation Studies. He initially joined the probation service due to his belief that the UK imprisons more people than necessary and that there are better and more effective community alternatives.  

Over time, he became passionate about redressing childhood harms and disadvantages that lead to poor adult outcomes, feeling this is a critical stage where alternatives lie. Matt moved over to Social Work, building extensive experience, managing teams in a climate of significant change and anxiety in local government, and re-designing and delivering services to better meet the needs of vulnerable adolescents. For example, he integrated services so that a multi-agency team with a varied and complementary skill-set could meet the needs of children under one roof. He takes great pride in the outcomes he has achieved for young people during his career, in particular being told, or shown, by vulnerable children and/or parents that he had helped their lives become safer and happier.  He is driven by his sense that harms to children could be less, and opportunities greater, which continuously underlies his day-to-day work. Matt’s current projects include the Leadership in Colour Programme, the Care Leavers’ Compact and the Adolescent Safeguarding Handbook. In his spare time Matthew is a committed olympic weightlifter, a sport in which he now competes and articulates as ‘joyous expression of timing and skill’.

matthew.raleigh@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Rashid Jussa

Rashid Jussa is the Lead for Strategic Intelligence at LIIA. He works to provide data reporting analysis, insight and intelligence support to the LIIA programme, working closely with all London boroughs to support our Priorities. 

Rashid’s core focus is developing a LIIA intelligence and data function that provides high level expertise, methodologies and tools to support the effective use of data in sector-led improvement, policy, development, commissioning and service delivery. He believes in making better use of our existing data and draws on his wealth of experience. Rashid has built a highly regarded reputation in the sector through developing the Children’s Analysis Tool (ChAT) which is now used by Ofsted and in all but one of all local authorities in England.

Outside of LIIA, he is the Chair of the National Performance & Information Managers group (NPIMG), Co-Chair of the London Information & Exchange Group (LIEG), and Chair of the external delegates of the DfE Star Chamber Scrutiny Group. 

In his own time, Rashid is passionate about learning new things, drinking fine wine, equestrian sports, Newcastle United, playing guitar and learning Italian!

rashid.jussa@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Frank Offer

Frank Offer is the Commissioning and SEND Lead for LIIA. 

The Commissioning workstream involves developing and managing a programme of pan-London collaborative commissioning to achieve better value for money and improved outcomes for children. The SEND programme involves developing pan-London collaborative developments and along with improving commissioning, there is a focus on service delivery and practice pan-London to improve outcomes for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). 

Frank has a background as a teacher and has gone on to deliver commissioning change programmes with multi-million pound savings and improved outcomes for children across the country from Nottinghamshire to London. He has led innovations in prevention that have achieved 90% improvements in outcomes for children and his work embeds a partnership and child-centred approach. 

Frank is driven by the difference the LIIA team can make in children and young people’s lives and has a Doctorate from Brunel University which focused on young people’s perspectives on barriers to participation in education, training and employment and how to overcome them, along with an MBA from Kingston University and BSc from University College London. 

Frank is a keen painter and writer in his personal life, with a particular interest in writing for young adults.

frank.offer@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Catherine Kane is Programme Lead for LIIA and leads the Resources and Commissioning programme with two decades of expertise in commissioning across Local Authority and NHS. She brings a proven track record of fostering collaborative partnerships and implementing outcome-driven commissioning strategies to improve the lives of children and young people.

She was involved in the development of London Acute Care Standards for Children and the Pan London Mental Health Toolkit for Schools and is currently designated as a National Lead for Social Care by Department for Education.

Outside of LIIA, Catherine enjoys tennis, hiking and going to concerts.

Catherine.Kane@londoncouncils.gov.uk

Isabelle Gregory

Isabelle Gregory is a Consultant for LIIA and is responsible for managing the rollout of the Your Choice Programme alongside Karla Goodman. She supports the delivery of other programmes such as Peer Review and the London Accommodation Pathfinder as well as helping to promote LIIA’s work more broadly through her extensive network and expertise and collaborative working.

As a senior management professional with Director-level experience (Executive and non-executive), Isabelle is a highly regarded specialist in the development of social investment and social impact bonds and is a passionate advocate for transforming public expenditure away from cost of failure to investment in success.

Isabelle is committed to helping young people flourish, and her expertise and unwavering energy has established her as a critical member of the team both generally and in delivering the Your Choice programme, which she personally named.

Isabelle does much outside of LIIA to push the agenda for children and young people and personally takes great joy from young people’s energy and creativity, holding a strong belief that young people will make the world a better place. She is also an active netball player and a proud and longstanding member of a South London team.

isabelle.gregory@londoncouncils.gov.uk