About the speakers

John Gaskell, Head of Personal Financial Planning, ICAEW
John Gaskell is Head of Personal Financial Planning ( PFP). He oversees the ICAEW PFP Community and ICAEW’s Personal Financial Planning Advisory Group. His role involves liaising with the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) and other regulators, working across different areas of ICAEW and with external stakeholders.John began his career as a private client stockbroker & investment manager in the City of London before working as an independent financial adviser for a national IFA, financial planning adviser at a regional ICAEW firm, head of personal financial planning at a legal practice, senior manager at Deloitte Wealth Management Ltd, and product development manager at Aviva. He has also held business development, staff training and consultancy roles.John chaired the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investments Private Client Examination Panel and represents ICAEW at the Global Accounting Alliance (GAA) PFP Expert Working Party, and was a member of the FSA examination standards working party. John has a BA in Economic History & Social Science, and an MBA. He is a Certified Financial Planner, Chartered Wealth Manager and Fellow of the Certified Public Accountants Association.

Oliver Colvile
Oliver Colvile was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport from 2010-2017. He fought the seat in 2001, 2005 before being elected in 2010. He is a former Conservative Part Agent in Orpington, Mitcham & Morden and Wimbledon before becoming a Director of Polity Communications which specialises in community consultation for developers when seeking to obtain planning permissions. During his time in the House of Commons he chaired the Built Environment All Party Parliamentary Group which undertook an inquiry into the quality of New Build Homes. He gave a copy to the then Prime Minister, Rt Hon Theresa May MP. The recommendations were included in the 2017 Conservative Party manifesto which included a new build ombudsman. It is now being enacted.

Chris Goodwin, Leathes Prior Solicitors
Chris is a Solicitor within the Dispute Resolution and Litigation Team at Leathes Prior Solicitors. Chris specialises in contractual and commercial disputes, including residential and commercial construction matters. Chris’ recent experience includes advising in relation to the issues faced by owners of new build properties, as well as generally assisting homeowners in disputes with sellers and builders.

Alan Milstein, Chairman, Residential Property Surveyors Association (RPSA)
Alan retrained as a surveyor following a successful sales and marketing career, going on to achieve a Professional Diploma in Historic Building Conservation & Repair. As a founder member of RPSA, Alan became chairman in 2012 and has helped it grow to become the leading professional organisation for independent residential surveyors.

Harry Yates, HouseScan
After working in site management roles for leading UK house builders, Harry obtainted a 1:1 construction management degree. He specialised his degree on the declining quality of new build homes in the UK. Following this, in 2016 Harry set up what is now the UK’s leading snagging inspection company HouseScan. They have a growing team of 10 snagging inspectors around the UK and work for a range of different clients from home buyers to developers and investors. They also focus their time on software development to which they're building a number of products including a snagging inspection tool for home buyers and inspectors.