Describe a typical day. Inevitably it's mainly meetings. There's a great deal of email and a reasonable amount of evening and weekend work.
What other agencies, and who else within your organisation, do you work with? I link with statutory partners, the primary care trust, police, the voluntary sector as well as business partners, particularly around provision for young people. I also work with our community protection team, as well as with our neighbourhood management team. I liaise with the economic development team around opportunities for older young people.
How did you end up in this job? I started as a teacher in further education and have had a varied career since then, including jobs as an advisory teacher, a development officer, an inspector, and recently a senior manager with a local authority.
What qualifications do you need? There's room for lots of types of people as it's a role with a diverse portfolio of services. But you need a commitment to developing non-statutory services.
What's the biggest challenge? To establish the contribution these types of services make to children's services. The contribution of schools and social services is very clear and the potential for non-statutory services is enormous, including the contribution adult learning makes to workforce development and the difference family learning makes to children's achievement.
What is the main goal that you have set for yourself? The key goal is to improve outcomes for children in Westminster and to create a new vision for services for young people.
What advice do you have for others wanting to do this kind of work? Get involved - it's hard work but very rewarding. Commitment and passion are more important than the kind of background you have.
These services flourish on creativity and diversity.
