David Bowles

David Bowles is a British public official who has been Chief Executive of Lincolnshire County Council and chairman of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust. He came to particular attention for giving evidence against the leader of Lincolnshire County Council, who was subsequently jailed. He is a member of the whistleblowing charity, the Council of Public Concern at Work.

Background Bowles was born in Cambridgeshire and has lived in Lincolnshire, England since 1999. He graduated with a science degree. He has worked in the public sector since the 1980s. He subsequently revealed that the Conservative council leader, Jim Speechley, had been using his position to manipulate the route of a new by-pass to increase the value of his land. His evidence led to Speechley being jailed for 18 months.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust After three years as chair of United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Bowles resigned in July 2009 after being threatened with suspension for refusing to commit the Trust to meeting national waiting targets. Bowles described the situation as "a substitution of bullying for performance management and an obsession with targets rather than safety". Bowles was imposed on the council, as an interim managing director, by the Welsh Government and paid via a recruitment company. At £1,160 a day, he became Wales' most expensive public sector worker at the time. Bowles sacked two members of the ruling council group, and the head of education and leisure was forced to resign.

Bowles is a member of the Audit Committee of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. He is also a member of the whistleblowing charity, the Council of Public Concern at Work.