News story

Cafcass new board members appointments

The Secretary of State today announced the appointments of new board members of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass).

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The Secretary of State today announced the appointments of Deep Sagar, Paul Grant and Francis Plowden as the new board members of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass).

The appointments are for an initial term of 3 years from 1 April 2015.

Deep Sagar had a career in the private sector, working in senior management for companies like Coca-Cola and Unilever internationally. More recently he has had many non-executive roles across sectors. His present roles include Chair of the Information Standards Board for education, skills and children’s services and Member of the Parole Board. Previously he held roles such as Chair of G3 (Inspiring Individuals) and Turnstone Support and Non-executive Director of HM Inspectorate of Education.

Paul Grant has been the Managing Director of his own consultancy firm since 2006 He is a non-executive Director at both Nottingham CityCare Partnership and Accent Housing Group. His previous career is in regeneration (Deputy Chief Executive of New Deal for Communities in Nottingham) and in criminal justice and rehabilitation. He also set up, and is currently Vice-Chair of, Nottingham Black Families in Education. He had 7 years past experience as a Non-Executive Director with the Nottinghamshire Probation Trust.

Francis Plowden had a long career in PricewaterhouseCoopers and its predecessors, holding a number of senior positions including Global Government Sector Leader. Since 2001 Francis has held a considerable portfolio of public and other appointments across the private, public and voluntary sectors – for instance, Board Member of Care International (UK,) Trustee and Chairman of the Audit and Finance Committee of West Dean College, Board Member and Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee at the Serious Organised Crime Agency (2009-2013). He is a current Board member at Cafcass (since 2012) and chairs the Audit and Risk Committee.

The appointments have been conducted in accordance with the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice on Appointments for Public Bodies. None of them has declared any political activity.

Published 27 March 2015