2 March 2000

APPOINTMENTS TO BOARD OF ULSTER SUPPORTED EMPLOYMENT

The Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment today announced a number of appointments to the board of Ulster Supported Employment Limited (USEL). 

The existing Chairperson, Mr Campbell Morton, has been re-appointed for the period 16 March 2000 to 15 September 2000, at which time he will stand down having completed his term of office.

He will be replaced by Mr David Russell, Chief Executive of the Hampden Group plc, who has been appointed as Chairperson designate for the period 16 March 2000 to 15 September 2000. He will then take up the position of Chairperson on a substantive basis for a three year period from 16 September 2000.

Mrs Caroline Donaldson, an existing non-Executive Director of USEL, has been re-appointed for a further two years from 16 March 2000.

The other new non-Executive Directors are Mrs Helen Bowman, of Bowman Windows; Mrs Kay Murphy, Principal of Glenveagh Special School; Mr Alan Hanna of the Down's Syndrome Association; and Mrs Liz Fiddis-Carville of the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

Mrs Bowman and Mrs Murphy have appointed for the period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2002, while Mr Hanna and Mrs Fiddis-Carville have been appointed for a three year period from 16 March 2000.

The Chairperson will receive £1,608 per annum while non-Executive Directors will receive £105 per day.

None of the appointees has carried out any political activity in the last five years. With the exception of Mrs Fiddis-Carville, who is a member of the Health Promotion Agency, a position for which she receives no remuneration, none of the appointees hold any other current public appointments.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

USEL was established in 1962 to provide sheltered employment for severely disabled people. It merged with the Workshops for the Blind in 1980 and acquired charitable status in 1996. USEL is located in Lawnbrook Avenue, Belfast and employs 63 disabled people in the manufacture of beds, sports and travel bags and various types of industrial sewing. Its customers include a number of leading local hotels, nursing homes, fire services and student accommodation providers.

USEL's board comprises a Chairperson and five non-Executive Directors. The terms of office of the Chairperson and non-Executive Directors have come to an end and most cannot be re-appointed as they have already served the maximum allowable.

The outgoing members of the board are:

Chairperson: Mr Campbell Morton

Non-executive Directors: Mrs Bernadette Grant

Mr Derek McClure

Mr Ross Reid

Mr Alan Thomson