Adult services directors now have their own professional body, following the launch of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) this week. Membership is open to the 150 directors in England with statutory responsibilities, but many also run related services such as housing or community safety. The move follows the launch last month of a new association for children's services directors and marks the formal end of the Association of Directors of Social Services. Both bodies, however, will combine for their annual national social services conference in October. ADASS president, Anne Williams, director of community, health and social care at Salford City Council, said: ‘This is not the old ADSS, minus children's services. This is an entirely new organisation.' The new body was launched just days before that of the new-look Ofsted on 1 April, which now combines inspection for both schools and adult education and has been renamed the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills. Its chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, former Tower Hamlets LBC chief executive, said: ‘At least one person in three makes use of the services we shall inspect or regulate.'
