THE board that will take over Bradford’s failing Children’s Services has appointed five new directors, including a former Children’s Commissioner.

Bradford Children and Families Trust Board is currently operating as a Shadow-Board until April, when it will officially take over the running of the service.

The Trust was set up due to failures by Bradford Council to improve Children’s Services fast enough following an Inadequate Ofsted rating in 2018.

A report from Children’s Commissioner, Steve Walker said the Council was unlikely to be able to improve the service by itself.

The new Board members come from a variety of backgrounds.

They are: Tracey Dennison – who has 25 years’ experience as a people director in national and local public sector organisations, including the London Borough of Camden and the Audit Commission. Her last role was the London Fire Brigade and included responsibility for the Brigade’s wellbeing response after the Grenfell Tower fire.

Anne Longfield CBE is a former Children’s Commissioner for England and now Chair of the Commission on Young Lives. Anne was Special Advisor to the Lords Public Services Committee on their inquiry into public services and vulnerable children and is the Independent Chair of the NHS Children and Young People Learning Disability and Autism Board.

Stuart Proud is a fully-qualified accountant with the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy with extensive experience of public sector services from working in a variety of Civil Service roles across central government departments and their agencies in a career spanning 37 years.

Nigel Richardson CBE has over 35 years’ experience working in various local government leadership roles in the UK. His most recent position was as Director of Children’s Services at Leeds City Council where he successfully helped develop the idea of Leeds as a ‘Child Friendly City’. He now works as a consultant, a Department of Education Commissioner and Improvement Advisor helping organisations develop effective approaches to child welfare issues.

Darra Singh OBE is from Bradford and is the son of first generation migrants who moved to inner city Bradford from the Punjab in 1959. He passed through the full education system in the city and his personal experiences in Bradford as a young person have been a strong motivator throughout his career. Darra has worked across all sectors at a range of different levels, starting in the voluntary sector working with housing charities and becoming CEO of housing associations. Darra has been CEO of Luton Borough Council, London Borough of Ealing and also Jobcentre Plus. He has experience of non-executive roles including Chair of Barnardo’s Audit and Risk Committee for five years and is now the Chair of the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion.

Eileen Milner, Chair of the Bradford Children and Families Trust, said: “I am delighted welcome our newly-appointed Board members. They bring a wealth of experience that the Trust and Bradford will benefit from enormously.

“They join us at an important time as we focus on the set-up of the Trust to ensure the smooth and successful transfer of services from the council. We will be working closely with staff and partners in the district over the coming months to get their input on the type of organisation they want the Trust to be. And we will be focusing specifically on the values they would like to see as the foundation for what we will care about most.”