Martin Narey

Martin Narey (born 1955 in Middlesbrough) was the Chief Executive Officer of Barnardo's from October 2005 before stepping down in January 2011 to spend more time with his family.^[1] He is a Visiting Professor at Sheffield Hallam University and holds two Honorary Doctorates, one from Sheffield Hallam and one from Teesside University.

History

Martin Narey graduated with a degree in public administration in 1977 at the then Sheffield City Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University). After a short period in the National Health Service, he joined the Prison Service in 1982 as an assistant governor, rising to be the youngest ever Director General of the Prison Service (1998) and later the first Chief Executive of the National Offender Management Service (2004). His career in the Prison Service included working in both Young Offender and Adult prisons, several Board positions, as well as a period in the Home Office as Private Secretary to the Prisons Minister. He was responsible for a major report on judicial system which led to the 'Narey reforms' and reduced the average time it took to plead a case in the criminal courts from 90 to 70 days. In 2003, Martin left the Prison Service to take up a role as one of three Permanent Secretaries in the Home Office and became the first Commissioner for Correctional Services in England and Wales, leading the Probation Service, Prison Service and Youth Justice Board. However, this period when Narey held his most significant offices within the prison service and fields of justice was also a period when prison numbers in the UK increased at their most significant rate since the 19th century. Narey has been accused of 'cosying up to government' and not using his status and reputation for questioning this line of thinking. To this extent he has been portrayed philosophically by some journalists as a 'conservative statist' regarding social issues. He has challenged this by portraying himself as a pragmatist working within limited boundaries.^[2]

Commenting on Martin's departure from the Home Office in 2005, the then Home Secretary, Charles Clarke MP said, 'Martin Narey has been a distinguished servant to both the Prison Service and the Home Office over the past 23 years. During that time he has earned the respect of colleagues at all levels and is held in high regard throughout Government and across the Criminal Justice System. 'During my time at the Home Office I have been impressed by Martin's vision, drive and leadership qualities which have led to significant improvements in the way we manage offenders. He has made real progress in taking forward the recommendations in Patrick Carter's report on correctional services reform through the creation of the National Offender Management Service and he has set down solid foundations for the Government to build on in our work to reduce reoffending.' In 2003 he was awarded with the Chartered Institute of Management's Gold medal, a single annual award for outstanding leadership. Narey was the first public sector recipient of this award for ten years. In his Diaries "A View From the Foothills" Chris Mullin MP describes Narey as follows: "Decent, humane, level headed. We couldn't hope to find a better man to put in charge of the nation's jails (diaries page 277). However, others have been more critical of Narey. His most widely criticized statement was made in 2009 when he claimed that Britain should take more children into care.^[3]. However, it is worth noting that although this continues to draw criticism this has not been universal. Specifically it has been at least implicitly supported by DEMOS in their 2009 study^[4][5] which threw a much more positive light on care than had been traditionally understood. In 2010 in an edition of the Moral Maze on BBC Radio 4 Narey defended proposals to change child benefit from a universal benefit to a means tested system. He has also been accused of supporting emotionally manipulative advertising campaigns in order to raise Barnardo's profile and in doing so being part of a cultural shift that has led to a culture of fear regarding child protection developing in the UK in recent years.^[6] Following these issues he has recently been increasingly portrayed as being on the extreme conservative wing in terms of the 'child protection debate' a position he consistently refutes as being simplistic.^[7][8]

Narey has published frequently in the Guardian, Telegraph, Times and New Statesman. Regardless of the controversy surrounding his methods it has to be acknowledged that Narey led Barnardo's through a period of sustained growth making it, once again, the UK's largest children's charity and radically increasing its political and media profile. Simultaneously to running Barnardo's, and for three years he chaired the UK End Child Poverty Campaign and, he claims, gained significant success in encouraging greater government investment in tax credits.

In April 2011 he joined the Board of the Advertising Standards Authority and in July, after publishing a 22,000 word report on adoption, which echoed his earlier call for more children to be removed from neglectful and abusive parents, he was appointed as the government's first Adoption Czar. This appointment has caused some controversy, with the most directed opposition coming from the British Association of Social Workers, who have described Narey as a man who seeks 'simplistic' answers to 'complex problems'.^[9]. However, others have been more supportive; baby adoption charity ASIST has been very supportive of Martin Narey's appointment as the Government's Adoption Adviser and has been fully supportive of his Adoption Report as commissioned by The Times ASIST www.babyadoptionasist.co.uk. Other commentators too were much more positive including: Francesca Polini, adoptive mother and author of "Mexican Takeaway";^[10] , the children's charity 'Coram', ^[11] and conservative commentator Jill Kirby^[12], who said that "Narey’s report shows that he is prepared to overturn current assumptions and make some radical changes."

As for Narey's known family, he has eight siblings.

External links

• National Offender Management Service
• Barnardo's
• The Essex who's who 2008
• [1] British Association of Social Workers

References

1. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/21/adoption-barnardos-chief-martin-narey
2. ^ http://search.independent.co.uk/topic/martin-narey
3. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/apr/14/martin-narey-quits-barnardos
4. ^ http://www.demos.co.uk/
5. ^ http://www.thewhocarestrust.org.uk/news.php/86/take-vulnerable-children-into-care-earlier-says-think-tank
6. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1465271/Barnardos-face-fresh-criticism-over-ads.html
7. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/oct/04/abolish-child-benefit-tax-credits-poor-barnados
8. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/26/adoption-tsar-martin-narey-spotlight
9. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/26/adoption-tsar-martin-narey-spotlight
10. ^ http://francescapolini.com/martin-narey-the-adoption-czar/
11. ^ http://www.coram.org.uk/news/readmore/24/1
12. ^ http://conservativehome.blogs.com/platform/2011/07/martin-narey-dangerous-anti-family-ideologue-or-inspired-reformer.html

Preceded by Richard Tilt	Director-General HM Prison Service 1998-2003	Succeeded by Phil Wheatley
Preceded by N/A	Chief Executive National Offender Management Service 2004-2005	Succeeded by Helen Edwards
Preceded by Roger Singleton	Chief Executive Officer Barnardo's 2005-present	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Narey, Martin
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Date of birth	1955
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