People moves

Richard Furze

Charity Friends of the Elderly has appointed Richard
Furze as its new chief executive to succeed Geoffrey
Dennis. Furze was previously director of finance having joined the
organisation in 2001 from the Shaftesbury Society.

Sheila Norris has joined Lewisham Council as
head of performance and strategy in the social care and health
directorate. She is on an 18-month secondment from the Treasury
where she was head of strategic management. Sheila’s
responsibilities will involve developing strategy in relation to
the Children Bill.

The Child Poverty Action Group in Scotland has appointed
John Dickie as its new head. Dickie, who was
previously head of the youth unit at the Scottish Council for
Single Homeless, took up his post this week.

Walsall Council has appointed Pauline
Pilkington as its new assistant director of children’s
services. Pilkington has been the council’s general manager in
children’s services since September 2001. She has spent most of her
professional life at the council, starting as a social worker in
1981.

Jon Rouse has been appointed as chief executive
of the Housing Corporation. He was previously chief executive of
the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE)
for 4 years.

Darren Shaw has joined Gloucestershire Council
as head of service, children and families. Shaw has worked most
recently in North East Lincolnshire, where he held a similar
position.
Moira Swann, the authority’s previous head of
children’s services, has a new
role as head of children’s strategy.

Diane Lightfoot

The former head of marketing and communications at NCVO,
Diane Lightfoot, has been appointed as director of
communications and fundraising at United Response, the charity that
works with people with learning difficulties or mental health
problems.

The Community Practitioners’ and Health Visitors’
Association has appointed Pauline Byers to a
six-month post as professional officer for education. Byers, who is
also a senior lecturer in public health at the University of Derby,
takes over from Sarah Forester who has moved to a Sure Start
project in south west London.

The National Patient Safety Agency and Royal College of Nursing
have appointed Sharon Dennis and Frank Milligan to
join 15 other clinical speciality advisers to promote patient
safety in their speciality areas. Dennis is currently director of
nursing and public involvement at North East London Mental Health
NHS Trust. Milligan is senior lecturer at the University of
Luton.

Accountant Mark Boisson and retired NHS manager
Patricia Dedman have been appointed as non-executive directors to
North East London Mental Health Trust (NELMHT). Clive
Myers, who has seven years experience as a chairperson of
NHS Trusts and London Borough of Redbridge councillor Aaron
Powell have also been appointed as non-executive
directors. Joining the four is Ron Jeffries, a
retired journalist, who has already served a term of office with
NELMHT.

Sue Aldworth has joined the Charity
Commission’s London office as corporate planning and review
manager from Fuji Xerox in New Zealand where she was responsible
for business strategy and planning.

Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts has been appointed as the
Improvement and Development Agency’s strategic adviser for
education and children’s services. Roberts was previously a
director of Capita Strategic Education Services. In this role he
spent two years as director of education in the London borough of
Haringey. He will take up his new post in early February.

Lesley Reid, director of social services at
Plymouth Council, has announced her retirement, after a difficult
year for the department in which its star rating fell from one to
zero.

She led Plymouth social services for two years, and is leaving
her post next month. Chief executive Mike Robinson will run the
department until a new director is appointed.

Sue Regan has been appointed as the new policy
director at housing and homelessness charity Shelter. Regan was
formerly associate director and head of social policy at the
Institute for Public Policy Research.

She has been specialising in housing, pensions, communities,
antisocial behaviour and welfare policy during her time at the IPPR
where she has worked since 1998.

The Stroke Association has appointed Averil
Mansfield as its new chairperson of council. Mansfield has
been a member of the council since April 1992. She became a member
of the executive committee in 2001 on her appointment as
vice-chairperson of council.

Mansfield replaces Lord Skelmersdale who is standing down after
10 years. Until recently she was a vascular surgeon working at St
Mary’s Hospital in London.

Louise Gordon

Louise Gordon has been appointed as director of
housing and care for ENHAM, the direct service provider for the
Enabling Partnership. ENHAM Housing and Care provides different
types of accommodation with support and care programmes for
disabled people.

Gordon was previously a manager at Berkshire social services
where her responsibilities included local authority directly
provided residential and day services for older people and the care
management and commissioning team for physically disabled
adults.

Andrew Lansley MP, the shadow health secretary,
has been elected as the new chairperson of the All Party
Parliamentary Group for Stroke. He was previously vice-chairperson
of the group.

Baroness Betty Boothroyd has become a patron of
national charity Friends of the Elderly. She was previously a
speaker in the House of Commons.

The Scottish Executive’s housing and regeneration agency,
Communities Scotland, has appointed Angiolina
Foster as its chief executive. Foster joined Communities
Scotland as a member of the senior civil service in November 2001.
She has been its acting chief executive since 15 September 2003.
Foster is the first woman to head a Scottish executive agency.

Deryk Mead has retired as chief executive of
NCH. Mead has bee in the post for over seven years.

Maurice Rumbold, the deputy chief executive,
has taken up the role of interim chief executive while NCH recruits
a new chief executive.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association has appointed
Bridget Warr as its chief executive with effect
from April 2004. She is currently a member of the executive
management board of Scope with responsibility for education,
employment and supporting activities. She succeeds Geraldine
Peacock who left the association last year.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection, which comes
into force on 1 April, has appointed a team of regional directors,
heads of service and a national director.

Averil Nottage, currently the acting chief
inspector of the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI), has been
appointed national director of value for money and service
inspection.

The seven new regional directors (their current posts
are in brackets) are:

North West – Alan Jefferson (NCSC’s
regional director for the North West and West Midlands regions);
Yorkshire & Humberside – Amanda Sherlock
(NCSC’s transition director); East Midlands –
Colin Hough  (NCSC’s operations director);
Eastern – Jenny Owen (SSI’s eastern
region director); North East – John Fraser
(director of  SSI’s North East Region); South-East –
Linda Hoare, (director of  SSI’s South East
Region); and London – Mike Rourke (director
of  SSI’s London Region).

The four heads of service are:

Data and market analysis – Mike Beazley
(SSI’s head of performance); legal services –
Louise Guss (head of legal services at the NCSC);
finance – Terry McCrady (NCSC’s
finance director); and external and internal communications –
Sharon Atkinson.

Heather Wing (currently NCSC’s adult
services director) has also been appointed to assist the commission
with business continuity and performance improvement.

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