Panel Discussion Highlights

An opportunity for delegates to hear from a range of system leaders and ask them questions chaired by Diana Beveridge and Andrew Watson.

Diana and Andrew were joined by a great line up of panel speakers:

Joanne Smith is Policy and Public Affairs Manager at NSPCC Scotland where she leads the organisation’s work around relational health across ages and stages, child development and trauma prevention in infancy. She is also Chair of Parent Infant Mental Health Scotland and is passionate about building local integrated systems that can support the social and emotional wellbeing of babies and families. She is committed to equality, social justice and the creation of local, high quality., relationship-focus support for families that is compassionate, non-stigmatising and accessible to all. Joanne has also worked as a parliamentary researcher at both Westminster and Holyrood.

Alison Cameron is Service Manager for Early Years & Childcare and Whole Family Wellbeing at East Lothian Council.  Alison is a former Headteacher who led two schools to the finals of the Education Scotland Awards.  In January 2022, Alison left her post of Head Teacher to take up the role of Quality Improvement Officer before moving into her current post as Service Manager in October 2022. This is Alison’s dream job as she is able to combine her passion for early years education while leading a transformational approach to family support across East Lothian.

Ruth Glassborow is Director of Place and Wellbeing at Public Health Scotland and is passionate about the importance of both reducing health inequalities and increasing healthy life expectancy.

Fraser McKinlay is the Chief Executive Officer of The Promise Scotland and sits on the Board of Directors. He spent 16 years working for Audit Scotland, including ten years as Controller of Audit and Director of Performance Audit and Best Value (PABV). He has been running his own consulting business since April 2021.He is particularly interested in systems change, and how we use public money more effectively to deliver improved outcomes for citizens, families, and communities. In October 2021, Scottish Ministers appointed him as a member of the Independent Oversight and Assurance Group for Mental Health Services in Tayside.

Louise Steel is the Early Language and Communication Lead in Education Scotland. She is an experienced Speech and Language Therapist and leads a small team of regional leads.

You can view the recording from this session below.