Search operator - Martin Houghton-Brown, chief executive, Missing People

8 September 2009 2 mins read Janaki Mahadevan Social Care Interview

One child is reported missing in the UK every five minutes. Of the 100,000 children aged under 16 who run away each year, around 10,000 are hurt while away from home. And last year, the charity Missing People received 68,000 calls from children who had run away. That's why its new chief executive is determined to ensure the organisation is at the centre of efforts to find children.

Martin Houghton-Brown brings a wealth of experience to the job (see box). In 2007, he produced The Children's Society's Stepping Up report, which provided a review of services that are available to runaway children.

This in turn led to the government's Young Runaways Action Plan published in June 2008, which set out the responsibilities of councils, police and other agencies in supporting under-16s who run away from home.

Houghton-Brown is keen to use his experience to develop a fresh strategy for Missing People. "I can bring my knowledge around collaboration to bear as a charity leader," he says. "The greatest challenge for Missing People is its need to develop capacity so it becomes the partner of choice for a whole range of statutory and voluntary sector agencies, but also to strip things away where we are duplicating services."

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