Lady Howarth of Breckland obituary

Social services director, chief executive of Childline and one of the first ‘people’s peers’After her social services career was blighted by fallout from a high-profile child protection scandal, Valerie Howarth nevertheless went on to become a leading authority on children’s welfare and one of the first “people’s peers” created by Tony Blair.As the first chief executive of Childline, Howarth led the confidential counselling service for children and young