News

The director of social services at the centre of the Lauren Wright case has announced he is to step down, writes Janet Snell.

David Wright, who has headed up Norfolk social services for the last 12 years, is to take early retirement in November, writes Janet Snell.

The council's chief executive, Tim Byles, paid tribute to Wright saying he had steered the authority through some difficult times.

"It is no secret that the tragic death of Lauren Wright had a profound impact on the social services department as a whole and on David in particular.

"It would have been very easy for David to retire then. It is a mark of the man that he accepted full responsibility for social services mistakes and vowed to stay on to make sure that staff were not left at a low point without a leader, and that the necessary improvements were put in place," he said.

David Wright qualified as a social worker in 1969 initially working in mental health. He has chaired the Russian European Trust, aimed at sharing European good practice in social work with Russia, since 1993.