Membership

Details of the members of the Independent Family Returns Panel.

There are currently 8 members of the Independent Family Returns Panel.

The Chair of the panel is Helen Chamberlain.

The other 7 members are:

Helen Chamberlain – Chair

Helen Chamberlain served as a police officer for 30 years, retiring at chief superintendent rank. She was Head of Public Protection for Nottinghamshire Police for 6 years where she was responsible for all aspects of child and adult safeguarding, specifically:

  • child abuse and sexual exploitation
  • human trafficking
  • vulnerable adults
  • domestic abuse
  • missing persons

She worked alongside statutory partners in health, social care and probation.

Helen has worked as a strategic firearms commander, public order commander and was seconded to HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for 3 years where she worked as a staff officer to the inspectorate in Cleveland, Humberside and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Helen has a BSc (Hons) in policing and police studies. Helen is an associate with HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services. She is also a panel member of the Home Office case progression panel and an independent member of the Parole Board. Helen is a volunteer with British Swimming as a technical official.

Dr Peter Sidgwick

Since 2019, Peter has been paediatric intensive care consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital, paediatric transport consultant for the Children’s Acute Transport Service and co-lead for paediatric critical care at the division of North Thames Paediatric Network.

Dr Anubha Sinha

Dr Anubha Sinha qualified as a doctor in the year 2000 from St Bartholomew’s and The Royal London Medical School. She then completed her paediatric training and MRCPCH exam before embarking on a career in general practice, with time spent working in clinical genetics.

Anubha was a member of the NICE Guideline Development Panel for “When to Suspect Maltreatment in Children” which was published in 2009.

Anubha has worked as a paediatrician, working closely with child safeguarding teams, and has experience working in areas with complex challenges including child safeguarding issues, asylum, poverty, drug dependence, mental illness and domestic violence.

Simon Torr

Simon Torr has a BSc in Psychology and an MSc in information systems.

Simon began his career in the computer industry where he wrote technical manuals for networking products and managed computer systems installations. Simon decided on a complete career change and joined the police in Sheffield where, after initial deployment as a beat officer, he managed the first estates team in the city, which subsequently developed into the neighbourhood police teams. He then specialised in firearms and public order command, along with creating successful partnerships dealing with public protection, safeguarding and community safety.

In 2013, Simon transferred to Nottinghamshire police as Assistant Chief Constable running the local policing, investigation, safeguarding and business portfolios. He continued to command significant firearms and public order operations, and was a national assessor accrediting others to command.

Simon was promoted to Deputy Chief Constable in Nottinghamshire and was responsible for professional standards, business planning, IT and finance. He retired from the police in 2017.

Dr Janice Waters DAHP MSc SRN

Dr Waters is an experienced safeguarding consultant. She gained her doctorate in advanced healthcare practice following a master’s degree in safeguarding and child protection.

Beginning her career as a registered nurse, it was not until her practice in a special secondary school that she developed an interest in safeguarding and the need for research into the experiences of teachers when children exhibit harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) at school. This subsequently became the topic of her doctoral thesis.

Janice was the National Advisor Safeguarding (Adults and Children) for the Care Quality Commission between 2014 and 2019, advising internal regulatory inspection teams with respect to safeguarding concerns and policies both internal and external and assisting with the delivery of safeguarding training.

She worked with representatives of multiple organisations including the Department of Health, Disclosure and Barring Service, (DBS), Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), NHS England, Office of the Public Guardian and The Charities Commission.

Janice was previously a Royal College of Nursing governance council member and trustee for a domestic violence charity.

In addition to sitting on the IFRP, she also sits on an independent panel for a national foster agency.

Simon Jones

Simon currently sits as a lay adjudicator for Social Work England and is also a professional committee member with the Complementary Natural Healthcare Committee and a panel chair with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy. He also sits as a local authority appointed governor for a school in East Sussex.

Between 1989 and 2018, Simon served as a police officer with British Transport Police, retiring at superintendent rank. He undertook a variety of roles whilst serving as an officer including as a senior investigating officer, contact management, digital policing and contract management.

Pauline Newell

Pauline Newell has an extensive background in child protection and the family courts, with over 25 years of experience.

For the past 18 years she worked for Cafcass, managing Children’s Guardians who represent children’s needs, wishes and feelings in both public and private law. This was alongside collaborating with family justice partners at a strategic level.

Pauline has chaired and participated on local, regional and national boards working within the context of family justice.

Pauline has also had the valuable experience of working within all tiers of the family courts which includes extensive High Court work.

In addition, Pauline also chairs 2 charity boards that provide services to children and families.

Colleen Sterling

Colleen Sterling is an accomplished advocate for integrated service delivery for children and young people, bringing over 33 years of senior executive management experience to her career. Her expertise spans various sectors including early years education, regulation, safeguarding, regeneration, and inter-agency partnerships involving health, children’s social care, police, and education. As an executive head, Colleen was renowned for embedding a multi-agency model that combines educational outcomes with family support for families facing multiple vulnerabilities, a model that has gained national recognition.

Colleen firmly believes in the transformative power of exposing children to sound values, asserting that all pupils can learn and progress regardless of their backgrounds. She champions the principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion, emphasising that these values begin at home.

Colleen is an award-winning executive, leadership, and business coach. She supports leaders across the public, private, and voluntary sectors, including charities. She has cultivated learning and development environments for executives, senior managers, and headteachers, fostering innovation, quality focus, and continuous improvement.

Colleen has a master’s degree in early childhood education (policy and practice). Her voluntary activity includes several voluntary panel roles within the NHS, including:

  • Royal Free Hospital Kidney Patients Association
  • Nightingale House Patients’ Participation Group (Chair)
  • NCL Residents Health and Care Panel
  • NCL CCG Community and Mental Health Residents Reference Group
  • NCL Start Well Panel member