Scottish Care announce appointment of Alan Baird as new Honorary President

Scottish Care, the representative body for independent social care services, has announced Professor Alan Baird has been appointed as their new Honorary President.

Alan will take over the role from Stewart Sutherland, Baron Sutherland of Houndwood, who has decided to stand down from his commitment.

Speaking about the appointment, Dr Donald Macaskill, Scottish Care Chief Executive said:“I am absolutely delighted to welcome Prof Baird as our new Honorary President. Alan has served until recently as the Scottish Government’s Chief Social Work Adviser.  In that role he has done a huge amount to build relationships between the statutory, voluntary and independent social care sectors across Scotland. We are confident that he will bring the intellectual insight, creativity and empathy that he has shown throughout his career to his new role and we very much look forward to working with him.”

The announcement of Professor Baird’s appointment was made at Scottish Care’s annual Care Home Conference in Glasgow, at which over 450 delegates from across the health and social care sector are in attendance.

Alan (pictured) qualified as a social worker in 1980 and subsequently held a number of practitioner and management posts in Glasgow, Angus and Dundee. He was appointed Director of Social Work with Dundee City Council in 2001 and served as President of the Association of Directors of Social Work in 2008/9. He was appointed Chief Social Work Adviser to Scottish Government in 2013 and remained in post until April of this year.

Alan graduated with an MBA from Dundee University in 1999, has been a Trustee of Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS) since 2013 and has recently been appointed Honorary Professor in Social Work at Dundee University.