Poverty is the single greatest barrier to a child’s attainment in Scotland today. While there is growing consensus on this truth, the gap between political ambition and practical delivery remains. Policy alone cannot close the attainment gap without structural change in how services support families, schools, and communities. Tackling poverty and boosting attainment must therefore be a coordinated national mission that brings together education, health, housing, and local government in practical partnership.

This conference takes place online.

Scotland is ageing – and fast. While longer lives are a testament to progress, they also reveal growing cracks in care services, workforce sustainability and rights-based support for older people. Gaps in provision, pressures on unpaid carers and fractured funding arrangements pose urgent questions about quality, fairness and continuity of care. Therefore, we must reconsider how we deliver, fund and reform care for older people across Scotland’s public, private and third sectors.

This conference takes place online.

Scotland’s essential services are now a constant target for increasingly sophisticated cyber attackers. While the public sector is often the primary victim, the impact of these attacks cascades far beyond councils, health boards and emergency services. They can disrupt private sector supply chains, voluntary organisations and critical national infrastructure. The challenge for organisations in Scotland is to build a unified, cross-sector approach to defending the digital front line to minimise future major breaches.

This conference takes place online.

Over a third of people in Scotland live with at least one long-term health condition. However, fragmented services, variation in provision across regions and rising multi-morbidity mean many people face long waits, inconsistent support and avoidable inequalities. Scotland’s challenge therefore is to deliver a unified, cross-cutting framework of care that strengthens prevention, coordination and equity and turns strategic ambition into tangible change for patients and communities.

This conference takes place online.