Dame Denise Platt is the Chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Prior to this appointment in 2004, she was Chief Inspector, Social Services Inspectorate, and Director for Children, Older People and Social Care Services at the Department of Health of the United Kingdom. She has held a variety of posts both nationally and locally, in local government and social care. These include Director of Social Services, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and Head of Social Services at the Local Government Association. She is a past President of the Association of Directors of Social Services, and was Chair of the National Institute for Social Work. She is also an honorary fellow of the Centre for Citizen Participation and a member of the University Court at Brunel University, a Trustee of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a member of the National Executive Council of the fpa (Family Planning Association), a Governor of the University of Bedfordshire, Chair of the National AIDS Trust, and a member of the Independent Review Board of the Cheshire Fire & Rescue Services. She has completed a review of the ’Status of Social Care’ for the Secretary of State for Health in April 2007.