Alan Billings has been a parish priest in Leicester, Sheffield and Kendal and has taught religious studies at Lancaster University, Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford and Queen's College, Birmingham. He was Deputy Leader of Sheffield City Council when David Blunkett was leader. He served on the Community Cohesion Panel of the Home Office following the summer disturbances in 2001. He is a member of the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales and the England Committee of the Big Lottery Fund, and a regular contributor to B.B.C. Radio 4's 'Thought for the Day'.