Queen’s birthday list rewards social care

One in five of those recognised in this year’s Queen’s birthday
honours list work or volunteer in the health, social care or
education sectors – and half were nominated by the public.

The list includes a knighthood for Professor Alan Craft, president
of the Royal College of Paediatrics, and a CBE for Ted Cantle,
author of the report into the race riots in the north of England in
summer 2001.

Chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection Denise Platt was
made a dame, alongside the former chair of the now defunct
Community Fund, Lady Diana Brittan, and the chief executive of the
NHS Confederation, Gill Morgan.

Kirklees social services director Philip Cotterill and former Youth
Justice Board chief executive Mark Perfect were both awarded OBEs
for services to social services and youth justice
respectively.

More controversially, Jonathan Tross, the chief executive of the
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, was made a
Companion of the Order of the Bath. Tross led the organisation
during a period of unprecedented criticism, culminating in last
year’s damning report by the Department for Constitutional Affairs
select committee.

Senior guardians warned that the news would be greeted in the
sector with cynicism. One self-employed guardian described the
decision to reward Tross as “insensitive”.

He added: “Cafcass has hardly been a resounding success since he
took over. He steadied the ship and for that he gets grudging
respect. But Cafcass is now more bureaucratic than before he
joined.”