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."
For Houghton-Brown, Missing People offers a unique service that involves providing risk assessment and support for missing children and their families 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Communication specialists
"We are specialists in communication technology through our helpline, posters and websites," he says.
An example of the charity's collaboration with other agencies is a pilot scheme that has been running with West Mercia Police called Text Safe. The system uses text messages to stay in touch with young people who are at high risk of running away.
Houghton-Brown is encouraged by local initiatives such as this and believes the progress being made in the area of missing people has accelerated in recent years.
"I see local schemes where police forces are leading the way in asking how can we use technology and how can we use third sector providers in keeping children safe?
"But I know there are still police forces out there that are not yet using technology to collate and manage missing children cases. Now is the time to make that investment."
National indicator
Another step forward for Houghton-Brown is the introduction of National Indicator 71, which asks local authorities to score their performance for missing children against five areas of provision.
He believes the indicator has acted as a catalyst for conversation between authorities and third sector organisations. But he is also wary of how accurate a picture will be painted from the first reports of the assessment tool.
He says: "If authorities are making one claim and delivering something different then they should rest assured that charities will be there to hold them to account."
While Houghton-Brown is supportive of the government's action plan and the Department for Children, Schools and Families' commitment to the new indicator, he is in no doubt that the missing person's agenda is still work in progress.
"We have created a safety net for young runaways but we have a fragmented approach to the multiplicity of children who are going missing every year."
To complete the jigsaw he says he will be pushing for government to co-ordinate data on missing children centrally. By strengthening national management of the missing persons agenda, Houghton-Brown believes Britain could become a world leader in tackling the problem of missing children.
He says: "The scope for this charity is to lead the way across Europe and even the world. Britain should be the place where we have the best safeguarding practice in the world and people should look to us for support in developing their own structures. Who knows, maybe the future is Missing People International?"
CV - WHY MISSING PEOPLE TRACKED DOWN HOUGHTON-BROWN
- Before becoming chief executive of charity Missing People, Martin Houghton-Brown was deputy director of business development at The Children's Society from 2008 to 2009
- From 2003 to 2006 he was deputy director of Yorkshire and Humber Regional Forum, which represents voluntary and community organisations in the area
- He is a trustee of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes, a member of the Missing Persons Strategic Oversight Group and former deputy chair of the English Coalition for Runaway Children.
