Housing Monthly Diary Archive

People In Housing


Return To The HMD Archive Index

January 1998
New Year Honours

CBE

OBE

MBE

January 1998
People on the Move

February 1998
People on the Move

March 1998
Parting of Institute with its Chief Executive

The surprise news of the month, at least to most members of the Chartered Institute of Housing, was the dismissal of Christine Laird as its Chief Executive.

Official press releases added confusion, with the first official comment from the Institute's President being confined to Christine is not working from her desk at the present time. Subsequent press reporting was very much dependent on insider information, rather than specific official statements, adding further confusion for the less informed members. Such insider gossip suggested: clashes between Ms Laird and key members of the Institute's council; apparent frosty relationship between Ms Laird and the Housing Minister, Hilary Armstrong; clashes with the Institute's Scottish and Welsh branches; failure to persuade the last Government to deliver a bigger housing budget.

What appeared certain was that there had been a breakdown in the working relationship between Ms Laird and members of the Institute's ruling council. It was also clear that the council, after a 7 hours' meeting, confirmed Ms Laird's dismissal and that she refused to accept settlement terms. She claimed that she was unfairly dismissed and she was considering taking the matter to an Industrial Tribunal. Prior to the meeting with the council, she lodged a grievance against every member of the council and the Institute's solicitors. Ms Laird was also understood to be seeking support to call an emergency meeting of the Institute.

The Institute sought to recruit a new Chief Executive. As an interim measure, it appointed its Director of Policy, John Perry, as Acting Chief Executive. Mr Perry joined the Institute in 1991 and his career included a period as Assistant Director of Housing at Leicester DC.

March 1998
People on the Move

April 1998
Government Appointments

The new Department officially started life on the first day of 1999 and transferred to the new Welsh Assembly in May 1999.

April 1998
People on the Move

May 1998
People on the Move

May 1998
Christine Laird Ended Fight For Reinstatement

Christine Laird decided not to continue with her fight for reinstatement as Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing and agreed to a £50,000 settlement. The deal ended six weeks of dispute, following Ms Laird's claim that she was unfairly dismissed after challenging the probity of members of the Institute's ruling council.

As a result of the agreement, Ms Laird withdrew her proposed actions to appeal to an industrial tribunal and to seek support for an emergency meeting of the Institute.

It was understood that the Institute would seek to appoint a successor in July and rumoured potential candidates included Peter Williams of the Council for Mortgage Lenders, Mike Irvine, Director of Housing at Southwark LBC, and the Institute’s Acting Chief Executive - John Perry.

June 1998
Queen's Birthday Honours

CBE

OBE

MBE

June 1998
People on the Move

June 1998
Opposition Reshuffle

The Conservative Party reshuffled its Front Bench, which included the following moves:

July 1998
CIH New Chief

Staffordshire-born David Butler, Director of Housing at Newcastle MDC, succeeded Christine Laird as Chief Executive at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). A former President of the CIH, David Butler brought to the job more than 30 years' experience in local authority housing, including spells at Tynemouth, North Tyneside and Rotherham Councils, before joining Newcastle in 1984.

July 1998
People on the Move

August 1998
People on the Move

September 1998
People on the Move

September 1998
Housing Corporation Changes

Housing Minister Hilary Armstrong announced that she was re-appointing Ken Griffin and Dr Peter Williams to the Board of the Housing Corporation, on completion of their first term at the end of September. Both were first appointed in October 1995. Ken Griffin is the former Chair of the British Shipbuilders and Industrial Adviser to the Department of Trade and Industry. Dr Peter Williams is the Deputy Director General of the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The Housing Corporation announced a number of changes in its senior management personnel. The Director of Regulation, Atul Patel, took up secondment to the Social Exclusion Unit in the Cabinet Office for a 12-month period as from the end of September. The Director of Investment, Derek King, and London Regional Director, Neil Hadden, swapped jobs on a permanent basis from the middle of September.

October 1998
People on the Move

November 1998
People on the Move

December 1998
People on the Move

December 1998
New Year's Honours

OBE

MBE

January 1999
People on the Move

February 1999
People on the Move

March 1999
People On The Move

April 1999
People on the Move

May 1999
People on the Move

June 1999
People on the Move

June 1999
Deaths in the Housing Sector

July 1999
People on the Move

August 1999
People on the Move

September 1999
Roger Jarman Appointed by Audit Commission

The Audit Commission announced the appointment of Roger Jarman as Senior Manager in its Public Services Research Directorate, where he would lead the Commission's work for the Housing Corporation and undertake value for money studies in the RSL sector.

Roger Jarman was Head of Housing Management at the Housing Corporation, where he helped to formulate the Performance Review framework and was instrumental in the development of the Performance Indicator framework for RSLs. More recently he had led the Corporation's Policy Teams, which devised the frameworks for tenant participation and Best Value in the RSL sector.

September 1999
People on the Move

October 1999
People on the Move

November 1999
People on the Move

December 1999
People on the Move

December 1999
New Year Honours List

CBE

OBE

MBE

Companion of the Order of the Bath

Life Peer

Knighthood

January 2000
People on the Move

February 2000
People in Housing

March 2000
People in Housing

April 2000
People on the Move


Return To The HMD Archive Index