New advisor on children's centre plans

Liz Railton, director of children's services at Essex County Council, is taking up the post of programme director for the Together for Children (TfC) programme in January.

Last month TfC, a partnership of children's services organisations including Serco, 4Children and ContinYou, was awarded a two-year contract to support the development of children's centres across England (News, 5 October).

Ms Railton, who has over 30 years experience in local government, was director of social services in Cambridgeshire before moving to Essex in 2003.

She told Nursery World that the role would be 'very challenging' but she was looking forward to directing 'a programme that has so much potential to achieve better outcomes for children'.

Ms Railton said, 'I'm delighted to be joining the children's centres programme at such an exciting time. The TfC partnership offers a significant opportunity for private and voluntary sector partners to draw on their expertise and capacity and use it to complement and supplement the skills and commitment that is already in place in local authorities.'

Elaine Simpson, from TfC lead partner, Serco, said, 'Our programme is unusual in that it is a private sector and voluntary sector partnership supporting the public sector. We are thrilled that Liz has agreed to join us.'