The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) will be made up
of experts led by a Chair, Chief Executive and the ISA Board.
We will have the authority to make legally binding decisions on
whether individuals can work with children and vulnerable
adults.
Where cases are not clear, decisions will be taken by the
Board.
The Chair, Sir Roger Singleton CBE
The Chair’s role is to set the strategic direction
for the ISA in order to best prevent unsuitable people from working
with children and vulnerable adults, as set out in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006.
Sir Roger Singleton was Chief Executive of Barnardo’s for 21
years and was awarded a knighthood for his services to children in
2005. He is a former Chairman and Treasurer of the National Council
of Voluntary Child Care Organisations.
He has served on public inquiries into child abuse in children’s
homes and is involved in the governance and management of various
charities. Sir Roger is also an accredited mediator.
The Chief Executive, Adrian
McAllister
The Chief Executive is
responsible for advising and leading the Board in delivering its
strategic aims. Adrian McAllister is also responsible for executive
leadership and day-to-day management.
His other responsibilities include:
advising the Board on the implications of government policies
relating to the protection of vulnerable people; developing plans
to meet the organisation's aims and objectives for Board approval;
and ensuring the ISA balances the need to protect vulnerable people
with the rights of the individual.
Adrian comes with twenty two years' experience working in the West
Midlands, Merseyside and Lancashire police force - including
several years as a senior detective. He was ACPO spokesperson
on Disclosure and Criminal records, a role that involved close
liaison with the CRB. He is a Graduate of Loughborough and
Manchester Universities and holds a diploma in Applied Criminology
from Cambridge University.
The Board
The Board members will support the Chair and Chief Executive in
leading the ISA. This role includes:
- ensuring all decisions are steered by guidance from the
relevant minister or sponsoring department;
- ensuring our staff operate to the highest ethical and
professional standards; and
- taking on the decision-making role in complex or difficult
cases.
The Board members have recently been appointed by the
Home Secretary under Office of the Commissioner for Public
Appointments (OCPA)
regulations governing public appointments. Each of them have
extensive knowledge or experience in the safeguarding of vulnerable
people.
Dr Valerie Brasse
Valerie graduated from the London School of Economics &
Political Science with a masters degree and doctorate in
economics.
After a brief spell as a financial journalist and a business
school academic she joined the Department of Health in 1987 as an
economic adviser, becoming a policy administrator in 1990.
She has led policy development and implementation in a number of
key areas concerned with children’s social care and child
protection, including implementing parts of the Children Act
1989.
In 2001, she was seconded as the social care adviser to the
Victoria Climbie child abuse Inquiry. On retiring from the Civil
Service in 2006 she was appointed secretary/adviser to the
Cumberlege Commission established by the Catholic Church in England
and Wales to review the Church’s safeguarding arrangements for
children and vulnerable adults.
Dr John Belcher C.B.E
John has held a number of positions both in the UK and
Canada. He came to the UK to study at the London School of
Economics & Political Science.
After returning to Canada he took up post at the Department of
National Health, where he worked on issues such as unemployment
insurance and researching and improving social welfare. On his
return to the UK, John held a number of positions including being
responsible for social and health services for the borough of
Lewisham. He subsequently joined Bexley social services, Scope and
then the London Borough of Redbridge. He took up his current
post as Chief Executive of Anchor Trust where he has since promoted
a customer-focused culture and encouraged business efficiency.
Anchor is now the leading not-for-profit provider of care, housing
and support for older people in England.
Richard Black O.B.E
Richard qualified in social work in 1968
and practiced first of all in West Belfast. He was appointed
Assistant Director of Social Services in 1973 and continued in that
roll in various districts of Northern Ireland before
returning to North and West Belfast in 1986.
He became Unit General Manager in 1990 and
subsequently Chief Executive of a new Health and Social Services
Trust in 1993. The trust provided health and social care to
approximately 220,000 people. This consisted of services to
children and families including child protection and community
paediatrics, elderly and disabled people, residential and nursing
home units and psychiatric facilities. The services also
included community provision for people with learning disabilities
both in the community and also in a large specialist hospital
serving the Region which provided assessment and treatment
facilities and forensic services for offenders.
He retired from this position on 31st March
2007.
Richard was awarded an O.B.E. in H.M.the
Queen's Birthday Honours in June 2006.
He is married to Heather and has two
daughters, Suzanne and Rachel. He is a keen yachtsman and
occasionally plays golf. He enjoys collecting books.
Donald Findlater
Donald graduated from the University of Kent and East Anglia
where he gained a law degree and Masters in social work in
1981.
He has since followed a career in the probation service,
specialising in work with convicted sex offenders both in prison
and in the community from 1989. Since then he has been seconded to
the Lucy Faithful Foundation which was set up to manage the
Wolvercote clinic, a child protection charity, specialising in the
prevention of child sexual abuse.
Donald is currently Director of Research and development at the
Foundation. Following the recommendations of the Sir Michael
Bichard Inquiry, Donald has assisted the DFES in the design and
implementation of ‘safer recruitment’ training. Since early 2006,
Donald has worked on Sir Roger Singleton’s ‘Expert Panel’
assisting in recommendations to the DCSF regarding the barring of
individuals referred due to their past misconduct or potential
future risk to children. He currently sits on the Surrey
Safeguarding Children Board.
Tom Davies
After completing his science degree at Liverpool University, Tom
enjoyed a 20 year career as a teacher, Deputy Head and Head at a
variety of comprehensive schools in North Wales and Cheshire.
Since then, he served for ten years as Director of
Education in Cardiff before taking up post of Director for Wales
and the Princes Trust. Since 2003, he has been commissioner for the
Independent Police Commission with responsibility for Wales.
Mehmuda Mian
A former solicitor in private practice, Mehmuda has worked for
the Office of Supervision of Solicitors before being appointed as a
member of the Police Complaints Authority.
She is currently a commissioner at the Independent Police
Complaints Commission (part-time) with responsibility for the
Metropolitan Police (South East). Mehmuda has been a non-executive
director of North Birmingham Mental Health Trust and the NHS
Litigation Authority. In November 2006, Mehmuda was appointed as a
BBC Trustee.
Professor Don Grubin
Don is professor of psychiatry at Newcastle University and
Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist in the Northumberland Tyne and
Wear NHS Trust. He is also Project Director of the Newcastle Sexual
Behaviour Unit. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of
Psychiatrists.
After obtaining his BA from Oxford, he undertook his medical
training at the University of London, and his training in
psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, and the Maudsley and
Broadmoor Hospitals.
In addition to his clinical work with offenders, he has
researched and written widely on the assessment, treatment and
management of sex offenders. He is a member of the
Correctional Services Accreditation Panel, a board member of the
Scottish Risk Management Authority, a member of the Newcastle and
Hexham Diocesan Safeguarding Commission, and he sits on the
Northumbria Strategic Management Board for MAPPA (multi-agency
public protection arrangements).
He is also a psychiatric adviser to the prison and probation
services sex offender treatment programmes. In April 2006, he
was appointed to Sir Roger’s Independent Panel of Experts to advise
on referrals to List 99.
Debbie Ariyo
Debbie is the founder and Executive Director of AFRUCA –
Africans Unite against Child Abuse, an organisation established in
2001 to promote the welfare of African children in the UK.
She holds a Masters degree in Urban Policy from the University
of North London and Bachelors in French and Education from
University of Benin, Nigeria. As a child rights campaigner, Debbie
has been vocal in highlighting issues affecting the safeguarding of
African children in the UK.
Debbie has also written and spoken extensively on issues
affecting the welfare of children in the UK. She is a Governor at a
foundation school in South London and has received many awards and
commendations for her work with African children in the
country.
Moira Murray
Moira has worked for The Children’s Society for the past ten
years and is currently their Safeguarding Coordinator responsible
for all aspects of safeguarding and child protection, including
historical abuse.
Having obtained a Bed degree in 1974 from Goldsmith’s College,
University of London, Moira decided to enter social work and having
qualified in 1979, she has been involved in safeguarding and child
protection work for over 30 years. Her experience includes working
for Inner London Boroughs and as a Guardian ad Litem. In April
2006, she was appointed to Sir Roger’s Independent Panel of Experts
to assess the suitability of adults referred to the panel to work
with children and was subsequently seconded to the DCSF to
undertake an historic file of review of cases previously referred
to the Department’s List 99.
Peter Withers
Born and brought up in the West Midlands, Peter was educated at
Oldbury Grammar School and RAF College Cranwell and has a
degree in Aeronautical Engineering.
He was a career Governor in the Scottish Prison service from
1972 culminating as Governor of Barlinnie, Scotland’s largest
prison, from 1989 to 1995. He then spent ten years on the SPS
Board in operational roles as Director of Custody, Area Director
and, lastly, Director of Prison Services until he retired in 2006.
Peter is currently a Board Member for the Tayside Health Board and
Risk Management Authority as well as voluntary role as Executive
Vice Chairman [Resources] for the Civil Service Sports Council.
His specialist professional interests include Corporate
Governance, Risk Management and Human Resources [Fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development].
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