Peter Minchin is a qualified social worker who remains registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council. Peter started out as a part-time youth worker on a south London Council Estate which provided the incentive for Peter to obtain a professional qualification to work in the field of social work. Peter’s first position was in an Intermediate Treatment Centre in Birmingham which provided day care programmes to young offenders permanently excluded from school. Moving to London Peter worked in a number of London Local Authorities specialising in working with children and young people who were either offending or in the care system and quite often in both. In one east London borough Peter was a Senior Manager who helped to design and develop an adolescent resource centre where local government services for children and young people aged over 11 were based. This included residential services, youth justice, alternatives to care and custody and education. The centre staff and services managed by Peter provided structured activities and programmes including those given as part of court sentences. In 2000 Peter took up a post with the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales and as Head of the Placement Service established and developed a unique system that placed all young people remanded or sentenced to custody into the most suitable secure establishment based upon individual needs and risk. During his time at the Board Peter worked very closely with the key agencies involved in the youth justice system such as Youth Offending Services across England and Wales and secure establishments. Since retiring in 2013 Peter has become a Governor of a local Primary School and is looking to continue his interest and passion for youth justice.