Dr Aileen Jones BA PhD

Personal Statement

I join the Heseltine Institute after seventeen years of working in public policy, most recently heading up HSBC’s public policy team in the UK.

My career started with a PhD in public policy from University of Ulster, which focused on the role and accountability of quangos in Northern Ireland and their future under a devolved administration. I have spilt my career between the public and private sectors, including three years in Parliament as a Committee Specialist, leading research, briefings and inquiries on a wide range of public policy issues including security, healthcare, economics, criminal justice, community relations and constitutional affairs. I then spent time working on health policy, firstly at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, where I led a major policy review on how risk was assessed and managed by the NHS in the treatment of mental health patients, and then at the General Medical Council, where I oversaw a complex programme of reforms following the publication of the White Paper, ‘Trust, Assurance and Safety’, which set out changes to the way doctors were regulated and patient rights were protected.

I spent several years working on financial services and consumer affairs at the Financial Services Authority, where I led a major policy consultation on financial advice and consumer rights and then at HSBC where I reported to the UK Chief Executive on all public policy and government affairs matters. I was actively engaged on a wide range of high profile issues with senior Whitehall and devolved government officials, Ministers, Special Advisors and politicians from all political parties, including on bankers pay, branch closures, far-reaching changes to regulation following the 2008 financial crisis and the reputation of the banking industry.

In 2014, I became a Mum and following a period of maternity leave took a career break to be at home with my daughter. In 2016, I relocated from London to Merseyside with my husband and daughter.