CHRISTINE BLOWER Acting General Secretary, National Union of Teachers

Christine Blower was elected General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers in  April 2009 having been acting General Secretary for a year. She was previously Deputy General Secretary, elected in January 2005.

Christine was President of the NUT in 1997.  She joined the Union as a student and has been a career-long NUT member.

Christine was born and educated in Kingston-upon-Thames and started teaching in 1973 at Holland Park School in London.  She became Head of Modern Languages at St Edmunds Secondary School in Fulham in 1980, and moved to Quintin Kynaston School in Westminster in 1983.

Christine changed the direction of her career in 1990 and began working with children at risk of care or custody.  She worked as a member of Hammersmith and Fulham’s Primary Behaviour Support team working with children with challenging and unsettled behaviour.

In total, Christine taught for 33 years up to her election as Deputy General Secretary.

Steve Broach, Pupil Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers

Steve is currently a pupil barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, a leading human rights, public law and criminal chambers. His practice focuses on public law challenges to decisions affecting vulnerable children and vulnerable adults and criminal defence.

Until October 2008, Steve was Campaign Manager for the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign (EDCM), based at the National Children’s Bureau. EDCM secured the Aiming High for Disabled Children programme, a £770 million government programme to transform disabled children’s services. This followed a Private Members Bill, the Disabled Children (Family Support) Bill 2006, which Steve managed for the campaign. Through EDCM, Steve was on the delivery group for the ‘Keep the Promise’ event held by the Campaign to End Child Poverty in Trafalgar Square on 4th October 2008.

In previous roles, Steve was Head of Public Affairs at TreeHouse, the national charity for autism education, and Head of Policy and Campaigns at the National Autistic Society (NAS). At the NAS, Steve co-chaired the Making Decisions Alliance, the voluntary sector coalition campaigning for the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

In addition to his pupillage, Steve is currently providing policy, campaigning and public affairs consultancy support to a number of NGOs. Steve is also a Trustee of both End Child Poverty and AbleChild Africa, the pan-Africa NGO for disabled children. 

Faiza Chaudary, Head of Policy and Communications, NCVYS

Faiza Chaudary is Head of Policy and Communications for the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS). She is responsible for the strategic development of public policy that impacts at local, regional and national level on young people and voluntary and community organisations that support them. Faiza is also responsible for the communication of policy positions through marketing, advocacy, partnership with policy makers and the media.

Graduating from University College London and Queen Mary University of London, Faiza has held various roles in public policy in the statutory sector, from shaping national policy in the early development of the Every Child Matters agenda at the Local Government Information Unit (LGIU) to shaping local priorities through development of the London Borough of Camden’s Children’s Plan.  Faiza sits on the DCSF Positive Activities for Young People National Stakeholder Reference Forum and has a strong commitment to improving outcomes for young people – particularly the two million 16-24 year olds who currently live in poverty.

Helen Dent, Chief Executive, Family Action

Helen started her career as a social worker and then moved into policy and strategy as an Assistant Director in Cambridge County Council. Helen entered the voluntary sector as Director of Policy and External Affairs at NCH in 1990 and joined Family Action as Chief Executive in 1996.

Helen is a non-executive director of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, NHS Trust, Trustee of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations and Council Member of the Economic and Social Research.

Paul Ennals OBE, Chief Executive, National Children’s Bureau

Paul Ennals is Chief Executive of the National Children's Bureau, a post he took up in 1998, having previously been Director of Education and Employment for RNIB. He was Vice-Chair of the Government's National Advisory Group on Special Educational Needs (SEN) from 1997 to 2001, Chair of the Council for Disabled Children from 1993-1998, and founder Chair of the Special Educational Consortium. He is Chair of the Children's Workforce Network, which brings together all the major agencies concerned with the children's workforce. He is also member of the DFES Stakeholder’s. 

Richard Exell, Senior Policy Advisor, TUC

Richard Exell OBE works for the Trades Union Congress, where he is a Senior Policy Officer, responsible for work on labour market issues and the co-ordination of the TUC’s network of Unemployed Workers' Centres. Richard writes TUC guides, briefings and reports such as the recent publications Ready, Willing and Able:
www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-12248-f0.pdf and Globalisation
www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-12299-f0.pdf.

Richard was a member of the trade union team that negotiated the European Directive on parental leave and is a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee and the Disability Rights Commission. He is 50 years old, a graduate of Bristol University, and is married with a daughter, Madeleine, aged 13. 

Alison Garnham, Chief Executive, Daycare Trust

Alison Garnham is joint-Chief Executive of the Daycare Trust, taking up her position in June 2006. Prior to this for nine years she was the Director of Policy and Research at One Parent Families. She worked for many years as a welfare rights adviser and for a number of women’s organisations before in 1989 joining the Child Poverty Action Group where she co-authored a number of publications about the Child Support Act.

She has subsequently written about lone parenthood and child poverty, including an edition of Poverty: the Facts, published by CPAG. Before joining One Parent Families she was a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of North London (now London Metropolitan University) where she remains an Honorary Research Fellow. She is a member of the Social Security Advisory Committee.

Kate Green OBE, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group

Kate Green has been Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group since July 2004. From July 2000, she was Director of One Parent Families, and previously she worked for the Home Office and before that for Barclays Bank. Kate is a member of the London Child Poverty Commission which reports to the Mayor of London and the Association of London Government, a member of the National Employment Panel which advises Ministers on labour market policies and programmes and the New Deals, a member of the advisory board of the Resolution Foundation which is concerned with access to financial services. Kate received an OBE in the 2005 New Year’s Honours list.

Peter Kelly, Director Poverty Alliance

Colette Marshall, UK Director, Save the Children

Colette Marshall is the Regional Director for the UK Programmes of Save the Children. Since its foundation, the charity has worked with children living in poverty in the UK. With a strong commercial background in the private sector, prior to joining Save the Children, Colette ran an international business for Lucite International, and before that headed up Innovations for an ICI business. She has also done a range of consultancy projects for social enterprises and charities looking particularly at growth and strategy.

Gerri McAndrew, Director, The Frank Buttle Trust

A qualified Social Worker Gerri McAndrew has worked in four Inner London Boroughs as a Practitioner and Assistant Director of Social Services, specialising in children’s services.  For eight years she was Director of Fostering Network, and joined the Frank Buttle Trust as Chief Executive in September 2003.  The Trust offers financial support to children and young people, and commissions research in the hope of influencing change in policy and practice in respect of services to children.

Gerri is currently a Trustee of Shaftesbury Homes & Arethusa. In addition, Gerri has been an Adviser on a number of Government groups throughout the UK and, in particular, the Prime Minister’s Adoption Review.

Anne Longfield OBE Chief Executive of 4Children

Anne Longfield OBE has worked in the field of children and family policy and services for 25 years in the 3rd sector and as a secondee to the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit at the Cabinet Office. She has been a lifelong campaigner against poverty and disadvantage and advocate for better help for children and families in difficulty.  Anne is leading the recently launched Family Commission which has poverty and disadvantage as a central theme. Under Anne’s leadership, 4Children has grown to become an award winning charity for change, shaping and delivering solutions for children and families nationally and in local areas.

Anne is a member of a wide range of national Boards including the current Ministry of Justice’s Youth Citizenship Commission, the third sector investment organisation Futurebuilders and various DCSF Boards.

Sean O'Neil, Policy Director, Children in Wales

Stewart Goshawk, Principal Grants Officer, City Bridge Trust

Stewart Goshawk works at the City Bridge Trust, London’s largest independent charitable trust fund, where he is Principal Grants Officer.  Through this he has a long association with many voluntary organisations meeting the needs of young people especially those who are disabled, homeless or victims of crime.  He currently runs a programme supporting the development of young people’s leadership skills and improving cross-cultural understanding.  Stewart was also Head of Secretariat at the London Bombings Relief Fund, the charity established after 7/7 to distribute donations from the public to the victims and bereaved families.  He has also previously worked in both central and local government.  Outside of work, Stewart is the long standing vice-chair of a board of school governors.

Srabani Sen, CEO, Contact a Family

Srabani has been Chief Executive of Contact a Family since March 2008. Prior to this she was Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern, which followed a period as Director of Nations, Regions and Campaigning at Diabetes UK. Srabani’s professional background is in strategic communications and campaigning. She has extensive knowledge of communications techniques across a range of mediums and targeting diverse audiences. She has also campaigned successfully in various public policy arenas.

Srabani is a board member of Every Disabled Child Matters. She currently is a member of the Ministerial Advisory Group on Aiming High for Disabled Children and the government’s Advisory Group on Child Health. She is also a member of two advisory groups for the Centre for Excellence and Outcomes, on children’s disability and on poverty.

Fiona Weir, CEO, Gingerbread

Fiona is Chief Executive of Gingerbread, which she joined in February 2008. She was formerly Director of Policy and Communications at Save the Children and has worked as Head of Public Affairs at the Consumers Association, Director of Campaigns at Amnesty International, UK and at Friends of the Earth.

Fiona brings broad experience as a director and senior manager and as a strong and effective campaigner for social justice and for children.