A senior figure at the water regulator is to join the Solicitors Regulation Authority as executive director, strategy and innovation, in June, the regulator announced today. Aileen Armstrong 'will be responsible for continuing to develop the SRA’s strategic direction and in particular its policy and research work, with a focus on supporting the delivery of innovation and technology in the legal sector'.

Armstrong has been at Ofwat since 2016. She currently leads teams focused on company performance and price reviews, for example delivering the methodology for the next price review, the SRA said. Before that, she led the finance and governance programme, which focused on company leadership and financial resilience.

In a speech in 2021 she hailed the improvements in the water sector since privatisaion. 'Customers would no longer tolerate the service that was accepted in the seventies,’ she said. She described Ofwat’s response to the pandemic as 'a microcosm of what modern economic regulation needs to involve: collaborating with companies and stakeholders, engaging across the industry, monitoring the right data, and acting on the basis of accumulated evidence'.

However economic regulation cannot be dogmatic, she said. 'Even in the heat of the moment, it should be laser-focused on getting the right result for customers. An agile regulator steps back, considers its aims, and selects the right tool for the job, deploying it at the right time.'

Before working at Ofwat, Armstrong held policy and delivery roles in organisations including the Competition and Markets Authority and HM Treasury, where she led the competition, markets and regulation team.

According to her LinkedIn profile, she holds a law degree from the University of Nottingham and began her public sector career at the European Commission.

 

This article is now closed for comment.