THE new head of Swindon Council's troubled social services department has been officially named.

Keith Skerman, 50, a family man with two children at school and one at university, is currently head of community care with the London borough of Hillingdon.

A social care professional for more than 25 years, Mr Skerman joined Hillingdon in 1999 from Isle of Wight County Council, where he was head of commissioning in the department of social services and housing.

Mr Skerman is currently on holiday but will lead the Swindon department, which has an overspend of £1.2m and an annual budget of £33m from June.

Since Marie Seaton, the previous head of Swindon social services, resigned following the much publicised zero star rating by Government inspectors last year, the post has been filled on a temporary basis by Jerry Oliver but his future is now uncertain. Coun Steve Allsopp (Lab, Parks), lead member for social services, said: "I'm very pleased that we have been able to attract someone to this post who will take staff and the department forward and ensure Swindon delivers the quality service we know we're capable of, and that Swindon needs."

Many of the serious faults, which brought the disastrous zero star rating in a joint Social Services Inspectorate and Audit Commission review last year, have already been addressed.