Press

Press Release

8th November 2007

Association for Supported Living chooses new chair

Bob Tindall of United Response to ensure members lobby Government with a unified voice

Bob Tindall – managing director of learning disability and mental health charity United Response - has been elected as the new chair of the Association for Supported Living (ASL). He takes over from Stuart Rigg, chief executive of Advance.

“It’s essential we maintain momentum in delivering an improved quality of supported living for people who choose it as part of their preferred lifestyle,” said Bob. “There are a lot of challenges ahead, with many new policies being introduced and implemented under Gordon Brown, so all our members have to work together to make sure the Government hears our hopes and concerns clearly from the beginning. If we do that, then we’ll make supported living not just better but easier to access, something of vital importance to the 14,000 people with learning disabilities supported by our members.”

The ASL’s membership consists of support and housing providers in England who provide supported living for people with learning disabilities. Its objectives are to provide a central source of support, information and knowledge for all its members and to lead on the development of best practice. It also advocates for supported living as an accessible lifestyle option for people, irrespective of how much support they need to live their daily lives. It aims to influence the development of national policy through dialogue with government and its agents for change.

The ASL is a member of the Department of Health’s Learning Disability Task Force and the joint Healthcare Commission/ Commission for Social Care Inspection’s Learning Disability Improvement Board. It holds an annual conference and other member consultative events.

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For more information or to set up an interview with United Response, please contact Sarah Bartlett or Jaime Gill in the United Response Press Office on or

or call 020 8246 5122 / 020 8246 5237

Notes to editors: United Response is a national charity that works with people with learning disabilities or mental health needs – including some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

We provide everything from 24 hour care to a few hours of support a week. United Response is community based, working in many localities across England and Wales.

Our mission is to support people with learning disabilities or mental health needs to take control of their lives. We design our care and support around each person and work with them to achieve real inclusion, independence and citizenship for all. We support people across the whole spectrum of learning disability and mental health and have developed a range of specialisms in working with people with the most complex needs, particularly person-centred active support.

We are working towards a society where people with learning disabilities or mental health needs are equal participants and have access to the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.

We have won several awards for our pioneering work and for being a top employer. In 2007 alone, we have been highly commended by the Charity Awards for our “Good To Great” approach to providing support, while the Charity Times named us one of the best six charities to work for in the UK. We are experts in the development of accessible communications.

United Response was founded in 1973 by chief executive Su Sayer. We are a top 100 charity, supporting more than 1,500 people throughout the UK at any one time and employing more than 2,000 staff.

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