Mike joined the Department for Education in 2016 after a spell in local government and 10 years in private sector planning consultancy, including as a Director in the Planning and Development Team at Jones Lang LaSalle. Mike leads an in-house team of 14 planning professionals within the Capital Directorate of the DfE, working across Operational and Forward Planning. The team operates on a regional basis across the two main school delivery programmes (Free Schools and PSBP), and alongside the likes of MHCLG and Homes England on a range of strategic planning initiatives to secure allocations, land and/or funding for schools.