People moves

The latest people moves in the social care
sector:

Foster Care Associates Midland has taken on David
Oldham as their new director for the Midland region.
Oldham has previously worked as a social worker and senior manager
at Birmingham social services.

Dave Wilcox

Councillor Dave Wilcox of Derbyshire council has
been elected as the new chairperson of the Local Government
Information Unit. The Labour councillor is currently the Cabinet
member for External Affairs at Derbyshire and chairperson of the
Local Government Association’s Education Finance Group.

Rachael Shimmin

Rachael Shimmin has been appointed by Newcastle
council as the new head of commissioning and partnerships, with the
main responsibility for services to adults. She left her job at the
authority as adoption services manager in 2001 to join Gateshead
council as looked after children services manager.

Former Association of Directors of Social Services president
Mike Leadbetter has been appointed interim
director of social services at Kensington and Chelsea council. He
wil fill the role until a replacement for former director Moira
Gibb has been found.

Leadbetter was formerly social services director in Essex. He
took up a new post as director of the practice learning
taskforce.

Gibb left Kensington and Chelsea to become chief executive of
Camden council.

Neil Hunt

Neil Hunt has become the new chief executive of
the Alzheimer’s Society replacing Harry Cayton. Hunt was on
secondment at the department for education and skills and the home
office from his role as head of child protection at the NSPCC.
Cayton left the charity to become director for patients and the
public at the department of health.

Stephen Sloss

Stephen Sloss is the new director of Blackburn
with Darwen social services replacing Ken Foote. He was formerly
deputy director and on secondment with Blackburn with Darwen
primary care trust.

It’s has been all change at Islington social services with
the appointment of three new assistant directors:

David Warlock has arrived from Sutton to take
charge of children and family services, replacing Claire
Chamberlain, who has joined the department of health.

Catherine Tyrell, who was part of a Social
Services Inspectorate inspection of Islington, is now in charge of
finance.

Neil Murtagh has been promoted to head adult
services, replacing Marilyn Richards, who is now executive director
of community services at Havering.

Nigel Williams

Nigel Williams has been appointed as the first
commissioner for children and young people in Northern
Ireland.
Williams is currently chief executive of Childnet International,
which specialises in protecting children from internet
paedophiles.
He is also a member of the government’s taskforce tackling
internet pornography.
He takes up the post on 1 October on a four-year term with an
annual salary of £75,000.

Gaynor Rosier has been appointed by The British
Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
(Baspcan).
Rosier’s background in social work includes managing an NSPCC
service working with sex offenders and their families. She has been
a long standing member of Baspcan.

David Comley

David Comley is now director of social work
services for Glasgow council having acted up in the post
recently.
Comley was previously housing director and was involved in the
transfer of the council’s housing stock to a new housing
association.

Home office minister Fiona Mactaggart has approved the
appointment of Geraldine Peacock as a charity
commissioner.
Peacock is to step down on the 30 June as chief executive of the
Guide Dogs for the Blind Association
Peacock will take up her new position on 1 July 2003 succeeding
Julia Unwin as one of the Charity Commission’s five
commissioners.

Maeve Sherlock has been appointed chief
executive of The Refugee Council.
Sherlock will leave her current position at the Treasury where she
has been adviser to Gordon Brown since 2000. She is due to join the
Refugee Council in August 2003

The home secretary David Blunkett announced the appointment of
Sir Charles Pollard as acting chairperson of the
Youth Justice Board.
Pollard will temporarily take on the position of acting chairperson
following the appointment of Lord Warner as a junior health
minister.
Sir Charles Pollard was Chief Constable of the Thames Valley Police
for 11 years up to February 2002 following service in London and
Sussex.

The Health Development Agency has appointed Paul
Streets as chief executive. Streets is currently chief
executive of Diabetes UK where he has been for five years and will
take up his place in autumn.

The Improvement and Development Agency is recruiting two of
local government’s senior professionals in social services to
strengthen the agency’s offering in those areas.

Ray Shostak will join as strategic adviser
(education).
Nigel Druce is to be strategic adviser (social
services).
Shostak is currently director of children, schools and families in
Hertfordshire.
Druce is currently director of social services in Cornwall.

Dianne Jeffrey has been appointed chairperson
of Anchor Trust.
Jeffrey is pro-chancellor of the University of Derby and stands
down as chairperson of the NHS Confederation at the end of
June.
Jeffrey will assume leadership after being elected to succeed David
Peryer at Anchor when his five-year term ends in September.

Steve Bundred has been appointed as the new
chief executive of the Audit Commission replacing Sir Andrew Foster
on 1 September.

Bundred, who was formerly chief executive of Camden council, is
the current head of the Improvement and Development Agency and a
board member of the Higher Education Funding Council.

Denise Platt is to become shadow chairperson of
the new Commission for Social Care Inspection She will give up her
current jobs as chief inspector of social services and director of
children, older people and social care services at the department
of health. She will start the new job on 1 July.

Glen Garrod, has been appointed director of
social services and housing for Isle of Wight Council. He was
previously assistant director, community care, at Norfolk
council.

Nottingham’s youth offending team manager Helen
Jones has been elected as the new chairperson of the
Association of YOT Managers at their annual general meeting. Jones
has a professional background in the probation service and forensic
mental health services. She took up her post at Nottingham in
2001.

Chris Davies

Cardiff council has appointed Chris Davies as its
new director of social services. Davies was formerly social
services director at Somerset and is also a former president of the
Association of Directors of Social Services.

Steve Pitt, currently the Social Services
Inspectorate’s director in the south west, has been appointed
Dorset council’s new director of social care and health. He will
take up the post in September following the retirement of David
Joannides.

Professor Rhiannon Billingsley, has joined the
board of South Yorkshire Strategic Health as a non-executive
director, representing the educational sector in  South Yorkshire.
She has joined for a term of four years and is director of the
school of health and social care at Sheffield Hallam
University.

The Coalfields Regeneration Trust has appointed Janet
Bibby as its new chief executive. Bibby joins the trust
from Barnsley Development Agency where she was in charge of the
Community Economic Regeneration Team. While at the BDA she played a
major part in the development of European funding at a community
level and expansion of best practice in regeneration.

Caroline Tapster, Hertfordshire’s director of
adult care services and statutory director of social services, has
been appointed as the council’s interim chief executive after its
first round of recruiting failed to find a suitable
candidate.Tapster will take charge as interim chief executive in
September, and will stay in position until the new chief executive
takes up the post in spring 2004.

Hilary Simon

Hilary Simon has retired as director of social
services at Windsor and Maidenhead Council after being on long term
sick leave.

Cheshire council has appointed John Weeks as
its director of social services and health. Weeks was previously
corporate director of social care and health at Shropshire.

Professor Lorne Crerar has been appointed as
the new convenor for the Standards Commission for Scotland. Crerar
has been a member of the commission since January 2002.

Outgoing director of social services at Kingston-upon-Hull
Council, Jan Didrichsen, has been appointed acting
chief executive at the council. His appointment, renewable on a
monthly basis, follows the suspension of current postholder Jim
Brooks over alleged Audit Commission report leaks. Didrichsen was
due to leave the council in July.

The National Centre for Independent Living has appointed
Frances Hasler as chief executive to coincide with
its relaunch as an independent organisation, having formerly been
run under the auspices of the British Council of Disabled People.
Hasler was co-founder of the NCIL.

Amy Weir is joining Somerset council to be
deputy director of social services in mid-August. She is currently
head of children and family services at Harrow council.