Started: September 2011
Based: Derbyshire
Website: www.derbyshire.gov.uk
Twitter: @DCC_ianthomas
Categories: Politics, Community Action

Ian Thomas is Director of Children’s Services at Derbyshire County Council. His mission has been to inject more creativity into the service, create better links between the education and care services under his remit and to open up communication with young people to improve outcomes for them.

Ian Thomas started work at Children Services at Derbyshire County Council in September 2011. He has led a transformation in departmental culture, aiming to connect with the individual needs and ambitions of Derbyshire's young people. This approach has paid off. The number of children in Derbyshire who have achieved five or more GCSEs has trebled in the space of a single year.

Ian is very active on Twitter, and uses the social network to communicate directly with the young people he serves, inviting questions and discussions from them on how his service can improve.

His ambitions stretch beyond Derbyshire too. He has used his influence with his peers and contacts nationally to campaign for change in the national policy landscape to improve outcomes and experiences for the country’s most vulnerable children.