Abdool is responsible for the NAO’s work with government departments focused on local services, including housing, communities, education and health. From October 2024 his responsibilities expanded to include policing and fire services, including leading our work on providing valuable and practical insights on how public services can be improved. He provides leadership on all areas of our work that touch on local government.
He has over 35 years of experience working in local government and the wider public sector, including at four different councils, seven years at the Audit Commission, and a period as an advisor to the Cabinet Office.
From 2009 Abdool was chief executive of Swale Borough Council before joining the NAO in 2017. He is a non-executive vice chair of West Kent Housing Association and sits on the Advisory Group to the Welsh Centre for Public Policy.
In January of this year, I took on senior level responsibility for leading the NAO’s people agenda as we reviewed and reset our strategy. I quickly recognised that that this was to be a significant undertaking for the organisation, with much work to do if we are to become the exemplar employer that we aspire […]
We all rely on local public services to be able to function in our day-to-day lives, and in these challenging times, we’re even more reliant on those services. Whether from local authorities, local NHS organisations police forces and fire and rescue organisations, to keep us safe and take care of us should we need it. […]
2019 will be a pivotal year for local government in England. Numerous difficult and open-ended questions need rapid resolution, at a time when government focus and capacity is directed elsewhere. Drawing on a number of our recent reports, here I explore some of the challenges facing the sector, from budget cuts and growing social care […]