Dame Josephine Williams, (born 8 July 1948) is a British administrator and social worker who was the chief executive of

Mencap The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the United Kingdom that works with people with a learning disability. Its Charity Number is 222377. History Established by Judy Fryd in 1946 as The National Association of Parents of Backwards Chi ...

until 1 November 2008. She was chairman of the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...

between 2010 and 2012.

Career

Jo Dillon was born in

Fishpool Fishpool is an area of Bury, in Greater Manchester, England. The area is roughly-speaking, a square bounded by Wellington Road to the north, Manchester Road to the west, Gigg Lane to the south and Market Street to the east. History The neighbourho ...

Bury, Lancashire Bury ( ) is a market town on the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, England. Metropolitan Borough of Bury is administered from the town, which had an estimated population of 78,723 in 2015. The town is within the Historic counties of Englan ...

. She studied Sociology and Social Studies at

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

. She changed her name to Williams (the name of her partner) whilst working as principal officer for Cheshire Social Services Department in the 1980s. She progressed in seniority to become second in command before being promoted to Director of Social Services in Wigan. She later returned to Cheshire as Director of Social Services. She was appointed as chief executive of Mencap in 2005 and remained in post until 2008. Williams was appointed

Dame Commander 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 ...

(DBE) in the 2007

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...

for "services to people with learning disabilities". An article in The Independent accused Williams of using her authority as head of the CQC to carry out a campaign to smear fellow board member and

whistle-blower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

Kay Sheldon, including commissioning a taxpayer funded psychiatric evaluation of Sheldon. On 7 September 2012, Dame Jo Williams announced her resignation as Chair of CQC. The CQC chair was forced to apologise to MPs after she reiterated her allegations about Sheldon before a

Health Select Committee The Health and Social Care Select Committee (abbreviated to HSC, HSCC and HSCSC) is a Departmental Select Committee of the British House of Commons, the lower house of the United Kingdom Parliament. Its remit is to examine the policy, administr ...

reviewing CQC accountability. In May 2014 it was announced that Williams had been appointed as Independent Chair of the East Cheshire Caring Together Executive Board. However, the move was criticised by local councillors at the

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority of the Borough of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government ...

meeting on 14 May after they learned that the council's Health and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee had not been notified of the appointment. On 15 May, Caring Together announced that Dame Williams and the Caring Together Executive Board had jointly decided that she would not be taking up the role. Williams became Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Council at Keele University in 2018. She was appointed Chair of the

Alder Hey Children's Hospital Alder Hey Children's Hospital is a children's hospital and NHS foundation trust in West Derby, Liverpool, England. It is one of the largest children's hospitals in the United Kingdom, and one of several specialist hospitals within the Liverpool ...

Trust Board in February 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Jo 1948 births Alumni of Keele University British social welfare officials Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Cheshire Living people People from Bury, Greater Manchester People from Nottinghamshire English social workers