Chair

NHS Education for Scotland and NHS Chairs Group

David Garbutt has held Chief Officer roles with Lothian and Borders Police, and Grampian Police, and was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in the 2001 New Year Honours. He was Assistant Inspector of Constabulary before his appointment as Director of the Scottish Police College between 1998 and 2006. He has been a member of the Board of the Scottish Leadership Foundation and the Justice Sector Skills Council and has also served as the President of the European Police College. David has also been an adviser on police reform and transformational change in a number of countries.

He is a graduate of the UK Police Strategic Command Programme and of the FBI National Executive Institute and has worked closely with a number of countries on Counter Terrorism issues.  In 2002 he led the development of a Counter Terrorism Programme for Senior Police Leaders, with the FBI, St Andrews University and Harvard University. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development.

He was appointed as Chair of the NHS Education for Scotland (NES) Board in April 2018, having previously served as Chair of the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) Board for a period of nine years, leading SAS through a significant programme of transformational change and the implementation of a new strategic framework to deliver enhanced patient care. He has been Chair of the NHS Chair’s Group for the past two years, Chaired the NHS Chairs Quality Portfolio Group and has implemented an extensive Quality Improvement development programme for Executive and Non-Executive Board members. He currently Chairs the NHS National Performance Management Committee, is a member of the National Leadership Development Programme Board and the Succession Planning and Talent Management Group.

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