Selections show 'utter contempt' for independence, says Hacked Off

David Walker: Dame Denise Platt, part-time chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, gets £90,000 a year

Dame Denise Platt, the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, talks to David Brindle about the huge cultural change that personalised services will bring - and about the commitment and aspirations of the new prime minister.

Denise is the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, a non-departmental government body responsible for inspecting and assessing the performance of all social care services in England. 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.

Dame Denise Platt has been appointed chair of The National Aids Trust. Platt succeeds Dame Ruth Runciman

Denise Platt, the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, has been made a Dame in the Queen's birthday honours. There are DBEs also for Gill Morgan, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Lady Brittan, former chair of the Community Fund, and Deirdre Hutton, executive chair of the National Consumer Council.

The new Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) will provide the first comprehensive picture of social care provision in England, its shadow chairwoman, Denise Platt said today.

Mr Justice Collins | Nick Hardwick | Sir Ian Kennedy | Rod Morgan | Trevor Phillips | Denise Platt | Sir Michael Rawlins | James Strachan | Anne Owers

The chief inspector of social services, Denise Platt, has warned that efforts to reduce the number of older people needlessly stuck in hospital are being undermined by poor joint working between council departments.

The head of the social services inspectorate (SSI), Denise Platt, is due to attend a special hearing of the Victoria Climbié inquiry today to explain why the watchdog withheld important evidence from the investigation.

Name: Denise Platt
Age: 56
Job title: chief inspector, social services inspectorate
Profile: Denise Platt became chief inspector at the social services inspectorate in 1998 and was the first woman to hold the post for a generation. Starting out as a hospital social worker, she was the first head of social services at the Local Government Association and has been a president of the Association of Directors of Social Services.

1. Denise Platt
Chief inspector, Social Services Inspectorate, Department of Health
Social Services Inspectorate
A figure held in high regard in local and central government, with access to political power, Platt "operates effectively to promote not just social work but the whole of social care at the centre and to the public," said a panellist. "She's dangerous - when she wants to be," said another.