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Biographies of the members of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman Executive Board
The Executive Board, led by the Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, is the senior team responsible for delivering the work of the Ombudsman. The three other members of the Board are:
UK Parliamentary Ombudsman and Health Service Ombudsman for England
Ann Abraham became the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman in November 2002. She is an ex-officio member of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council, the Scottish and Welsh Committees of the Administrative Justice and Tribunals Council and the Commission for Local Administration in England.
Ann was Chair of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association from 2004 until 2006, having been a member of the Executive Committee from 2001 to 2004. She remains a member of BIOA’s Validation Committee (2006-).
Previously, Ann was Legal Services Ombudsman for England and Wales from September 1997 to October 2002. She was a member of the Wicks Committee (the Committee on Standards in Public Life) from January 2000 to October 2002 and a non-executive director of the Benefits Agency from 1997 to 2001.
Ann worked in local government from 1975 to 1980, and from 1980 to 1990 held a variety of posts in the Housing Corporation. From 1991 to 1997 Ann was Chief Executive of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.
Deputy Ombudsman
Kathryn Hudson joined PHSO on 4 August 2008, on secondment from the Department of Health, and leads Operational teams responsible for delivery of casework and customer service.
Following a successful career in the Probation Service and in local government, culminating in her role as Director of Social Services for Newham Council, Kathryn joined the Department of Health in 2004 as National Director for Social Care. In that role she spearheaded the influential 2005 Green Paper, Independence, Well-being and Choice, which set out a vision for social care in the 21st Century. She worked in partnership with political leaders and external stakeholders to develop the new national agenda for adult social care and health, later set out in the White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say. More recently Kathryn has been on secondment to Barnardo’s, supporting their Chief Executive in the development of his new vision and business plan for the organisation.
Deputy Chief Executive
Bill joined the Ombudsman’s senior team in July 2003 and is responsible for all Corporate Resources Services, including finance, human resources, IT and other internal service delivery. Previously, he was Director of Resources at the Charity Commission, where he held similar responsibilities.
Bill’s earlier career spanned a number of Civil Service departments including Trade and Industry, Customs and Excise and the Inland Revenue. He has worked in a variety of areas including VAT, customs investigations, internal audit, tax policy, human resources and finance. He has also led a Cabinet Office Efficiency Scrutiny on tax collection systems. Bill is a professionally qualified internal auditor and has an accountancy qualification. He was previously an external member of Ofsted’s Audit Committee and was previously a member of the Central Government National Training Organisation Council.
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Director of Communications
Claire is responsible for the corporate communications, branding and design, public affairs and internal communications functions of the office. She commenced the role on 1 December 2009.
She brings with her 14 years’ experience of directing communications and marketing strategies to achieve corporate objectives. Most recently she was Director of Communications for the Youth Justice Board and has held a similar role at the Advertising Standards Authority.
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