Jayne Francis was first elected as a Councillor in 2016. Since 2018 she has been part of Birmingham City Council’s Cabinet – initially with a portfolio encompassing education and skills. In 2020 she became Cabinet Member for digital, culture, heritage & tourism. More recently, Jayne has been appointed Cabinet Member for housing and homelessness. This brief includes political accountability and oversight for housing management, capital investment, housing strategy and partnerships and major regeneration programmes.
Jayne’s academic background is in the area of social policy. She has a Master’s in Public Services (Birmingham) and a post-graduate qualification in research methods.
Prior to becoming Cabinet Member, Jayne spent over 20 years working in research and evaluation, largely in Birmingham. Her areas of research (qualitative & quantitative) and evaluation expertise were in housing and regeneration, health inequalities and education. Clients included local authorities, regeneration partnerships and Sure Start where she was a consultant with the DfE.
Jayne is a Director with Harborne BID and holds directorships with the Ikon Gallery and Birmingham Rep. She is also a Trustee with West Midlands Arts and is a Regional representative on the Arts Council (Midlands). Outside of work her passion is food (cooking and eating) and Jayne enjoys travel (public transport as she doesn’t drive). Jayne has one daughter and one grandchild.
