Who were the most influential social care personalities of the noughties

Ed Balls

The children’s secretary told social workers to stop moaning about the Integrated Children’s System, appeared to back the Sun’s anti-social work campaign following the baby Peter case but also launched a big social work recruitment campaign.

Tony Blair

Who’s this suave looking guy? He used to run the country. His New Labour project saw a massive increase in funding for public services, but how do you rate him now?

Gordon Brown

Is our current prime minister sticking up for social care in a time of economic difficulty?

David Cameron

Are you convinced by the opposition leader’s brand of caring conservatism? Will you be hugging a hoodie?

Iain Duncan Smith

The Conservative’s new social policy guru established the Centre for Social Justice in 2003 to promote “compassionate conservatism”. Will his ideas be good for social care?

Tim Loughton

Shadow children’s minister since 2003, Loughton has developed an impressive understanding of his brief and told social workers he wanted to be their friend. But is it too easy to be everyone’s friend when you’re in opposition?

Hilton Dawson

Formerly one of the few MPs to have been a social worker, Dawson is now the only BASW leader to have been an MP. Not afraid to have a disagreement with, well, anyone really.

Lord Laming

Chaired the inquiries into the deaths of Victoria Climbie and baby Peter. His 2003 Climbie report paved the way for significant reforms in child protection and the introduction of Every Child Matters.

Ivan Lewis

Care services minister from 2006-8 respected for his commitment to the brief and social care working history. Apologised after text pest scandal in 2008.

Alan Milburn

The health secretary during the Victoria Climbie case, Milburn announced the decision to split children and adults’ services.

Margaret Hodge

Appointed the UK’s first children’s minister in 2003, she backed a universal child database, got embroiled in the Islington child abuse scandal, launched Every Child Matters and was handcuffed to a Fathers 4 Justice campaigner

Deidre Sanders

Ok, before you immediately press “zero” please remember Deidre had no input into The Sun’s baby Peter news coverage being just an agony aunt after all. Appointed to social work taskforce earlier this year.

Louis Appleby

Mental health “tsar” since 2000 he has led campaigns against suicide and promoted talking therapies. Funding on mental health has increased significantly over the past decade. Also pushed through the controversial Mental Health Act 2007.

Heather Wakefield

Unison’s national secretary for local government Heather Wakefield has taken the fight for better pay to local government employers. Do you feel well represented by her super-union?

David Behan

The Department of Health’s director general of social care since 2007 and formerly chief inspector of the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Has he given social care a powerful voice in central government?

Dame Denise Platt

The stylish former chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection was always happy to speak her mind publicly, unlike some of the decade’s greyer social care figures. But did you agree with what she said?