Alexandrina Henderson Farmer Jay, OBE (born 25 April 1949) is a British academic. She is visiting professor at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

and the independent chair of th
Centre for Excellence for Children's Care and Protection
(CELCIS). Following the resignation of Justice

Lowell Goddard Dame Lowell Patria Goddard, (born 25 November 1948) is a former New Zealand High Court judge, from 1995 to 2015. She is thought to be the first person of Māori ancestry to have been appointed to the High Court. In 1988, she was one of the fi ...

, Home Secretary

Amber Rudd Amber Augusta Rudd (born 1 August 1963) is a British former politician who served as Home Secretary from 2016 to 2018 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2018 to 2019. She was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hastings and Rye, fi ...

announced on 11 August 2016 that Jay had been appointed to chair the

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales was an inquiry examining how the country's institutions handled their duty of care to protect children from sexual abuse. It was announced by the British Home Secretary ...

, of which she had previously been a Panel member."New chairwoman of abuse inquiry named"
bbc.co.uk, 11 August 2016; retrieved 11 August 2016. Jay is a former senior

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

. She was previously chief social work adviser to the Scottish Government and a former president of the Association of Directors of Social Work.

Early life

Jay was born in Edinburgh. Her father, who was a carpenter, died following an industrial accident when she was two. She studied social work at

Moray House School of Education The Moray House School of Education and Sport ('Moray House') is a school within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. It is based in historic buildings on the Holyrood Campus, located between the C ...

, now part of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

Career

In 2005, she took up the post of chief social work inspector at the

Social Work Inspection Agency The Social Work Inspection Agency (SWIA) was an inspectorate in Scotland between 2005 and 2011. History It was established as an inspectorate in April 2005 by the Scottish Government to scrutinise all aspects of social services provided by Scot ...

(SWIA), a government organisation scrutinising all aspects of social services provided by local authorities in Scotland. She served as chief executive and chief social work inspector until the functions of SWIA and the

Care Commission The Care Inspectorate (formally known as Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland) is a scrutiny body which supports improvement. They look at the quality of care in Scotland to ensure it meets high standards. Where improvement is neede ...

were taken over by the Care Inspectorate in 2011. She remained as chief social work inspector to the Scottish Government until early 2013.

Expert role in independent inquiries

She led the

Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consisted of the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England from the late 1980s until the 2010s and the failure of local authorities to a ...

, an investigation into

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

in the

Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham The Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham is a metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. It is named after its largest town, Rotherham, but also spans the outlying towns of Maltby, Swinton, Wath-upon-Dearne, Dinnington and also the vill ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

. She is the author of the investigation's report, published in August 2014. In September 2014 she was appointed to act as an expert adviser to an independent panel inquiry which was intended to examine how the UK's institutions have handled their duties to protect children from sexual abuse. Following the abandonment of the initial panel inquiry in favour of a

statutory inquiry The Inquiries Act 2005 (c 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. According to the explanatory notes, published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Act "is intended to provide a comprehensive statutory framework for ...

, she was re-appointed as an adviser to the subsequent

chaired by Dame

. After Goddard resigned as chair, it was announced on 11 August 2016 that Jay had been appointed to chair the Inquiry,

Honours

She was made an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jay, Alexis 1949 births Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics from Edinburgh British social workers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Civil servants from Edinburgh Politics of Rotherham Living people