Honorary officers

There are three honorary officers, elected by the full membership:

Dame Gillian Pugh, Chair

Dame Gillian Pugh retired in 2005 as Chief Executive of Coram Family, a leading children’s charity which aims to develop and promote best practice in the care and support of very vulnerable children and their families.  She has published widely, including London’s Forgotten Children: Thomas Coram and the Foundling Hospital (2008) and Contemporary Issues in the Early Years (5th edition 2009).   Gillian chaired the Advisory Committee for the Cambridge Primary Review and is a co-author of the final report Children, their World, their Education (Routledge 2009).  She is chair of the National Children’s Bureau, President of the National Childminding Association, and a vice President of Early Education.  Gillian is on the panel of the Family Justice Review, is a member of the Children’s Workforce Development Council, is on the Board of the Training and Development Agency for Schools, and is visiting Professor at the Institute of Education,  She has advised governments in this country and overseas on policies for children and families, and was an advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee for children, schools and families. She was awarded the DBE in 2005 for services to children and families.


Jane Held, Vice Chair
Jane Held took retirement from local government service in April 2004 and is now running her own consultancy company.  She was Director of Social Services in Camden before retiring and previously Director in Southend on Sea. She was also co-chair of the Children and Families Committee of the Association of Directors of Social Services for three years. She served on the NSF CAMHS External Working Group. She was a founding member of the Inter-Agency Group (IAG). During that period she was co-author of Serving Children Well, the discussion paper that stimulated Every Child Matters, and was responsible for negotiations on ECM with DCSF in her ADSS role. She has 28 years’ experience in social care and has a national reputation and profile as a child care expert.


David Rimington, Treasurer
David is married with two adult children. He has worked as an accountant in the commercial sector for most of his career. He has served as a trustee for Together Working for Well-being, a mental health services charity of a similar size to NCB, and was formerly a trustee of its pension fund. He has also undertaken work for the homelessness charity Shelter and is involved with young people as secretary of his local canoe club.

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