Good governance has always been critical, but in 2025, it has become indispensable. Public sector bodies face unprecedented challenges: constrained budgets, damaged services, evolving public expectations and increasing demands for transparency and accountability. The need to ensure strong governance frameworks that support innovation, resilience efficiency and collaboration has never been greater.
Those who govern our public bodies today face a daunting task. To stretch limited budgets and resources to meet rising demand for services. To bend the spend yet maintain and improve service quality and safety. To help their organisations become more efficient and innovative in the way they design and deliver services. All whilst operating within pre-set policy frameworks and guidelines set out by Government and sector regulators.
This conference addresses how governance can navigate this period of rapid change. With ongoing fiscal pressures, the need to reform service delivery under tight financial constraints provides the backdrop for these discussions. The longer-term Local Governance Review and the drive toward inclusive decision-making also emphasise the need to align governance with community priorities.
Across three focused sessions, this conference will examine governance in practice: its role in setting strategic visions, building leadership and fostering trust across organisations and with the public. It will explore how to integrate robust governance systems that not only mitigate risks but also capitalize on opportunities for improvement through collaboration and stakeholder engagement. With a lens on transparency and accountability, the conference will also examine the role of internal audits, boards, and leadership teams in maintaining operational excellence. As Scotland’s public services strive to balance innovation with efficiency, these discussions will focus on navigating uncertainties while delivering outcomes that meet public needs.
This conference will address the challenge of good governance across three sessions:
Topics to be discussed
Who should attend
All those concerned with the development and delivery of good governance in Scotland, including:
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Partner, Audit - Public Sector, Grant Thornton UK LLP and President, CIPFA Scotland Branch
Public Sector Lead, Workforce Transformation
Deloitte
Director
Fletcher Jones
Minister for Public Finance
Scottish Government
Principal Consultant
Good Governance Institute
Rosemary Agnew
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman
Rosemary Agnew took up the post of Scottish Public Services Ombudsman on 1 May 2017. Immediately prior to this she was the Scottish Information Commissioner (2012-2017).
Since 2001, Rosemary has held various roles in relation to public sector complaints, including with the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission and the Local Government Ombudsman in the UK.
Rosemary is committed to transparent, sustainable improvement in Scottish public services. She sees complaints and what is learned from them as an integral part of the improvement landscape. Equally, she recognises the importance of being the final stage of the complaints process in Scotland for most public services and in ensuring that, where things go wrong for individuals, action is taken to put them right as far as possible.
Joanne E Brown
Partner, Audit - Public Sector, Grant Thornton UK LLP and President, CIPFA Scotland Branch
Adam King
Public Sector Lead, Workforce Transformation
Deloitte
Adam is the Head of Public Sector Workforce Transformation, leading the Deloitte team who support public bodies to transform their organisations for the benefit of citizens. His primary focus is the Security and Justice sector, but Adam works across the public sector, especially in relation to major projects within the government’s major project portfolio.
Particular areas of expertise are: design and delivery of leadership programmes, top team facilitation, organisation design, talent strategy and implementation, learning programme design and implementation.
As well as client work, Adam has contributed to a range of Deloitte thought leadership, most recently including Policing 4.0 and Leadership for a new decade. Adam is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and lives in Scotland
Monica Langa
Director
Fletcher Jones
Monica Langa is an executive director and equity partner in Fletcher Jones Ltd - an executive search practice. She she specialises in non-executive Board appointments and independent board effectiveness reviews, mainly for listed PLCs and Financial Services companies. She spends the majority of her time both advocating for and experiencing best practice in corporate governance, in some of the most highly regulated boards in the UK and the Channel Islands.
Monica is an experienced non-executive director having served on boards in the voluntary and private sectors since 1999! Monica is also co-editor of the book: A Director's Guide to Governance in the Boardroom https://routledge.pub/Directors-Guide-to-Governance-in-the-Boardroom
Ivan McKee MSP
Minister for Public Finance
Scottish Government
Ivan McKee's career has involved a number of senior roles in manufacturing and business, managing companies in the UK as well as Poland, Finland, Croatia and Bosnia.
Early in his career, Ivan spent two years with VSO in Bangladesh. He is currently a trustee of the charity CEI, which supports education and health projects in Bangladesh.
Ivan has been MSP for Glasgow Provan since May 2016. He was brought up in Glasgow where he studied at the University of Strathclyde. He also studied at the University of Newcastle.
He was previously the Minister for Trade, Investment and Innovation and Minister for Business, Trade, Tourism and Enterprise.
Joanna Watson
Principal Consultant
Good Governance Institute
Joanna joined GGI in September 2021 and specialises in reviews and in governance improvement, working primarily in health, education and the charity sector. She spends much of her time helping organisations improve their governance arrangements, through delivering developmental governance reviews and making the best use of time spent in meetings and enabling better decision-making. She has considerable experience of working with boards and their committees, including board development workshops. She relishes challenges and enjoys developing solutions to solve complex problems.
Before joining GGI, Joanna worked at PwC for more than 30 years, providing assurance services to public sector and not-for-profit bodies, specialising in the NHS and higher education. Her experience includes due diligence and financial governance reviews as well as external and internal audit.
Joanna is an honorary fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) in recognition of her contribution as past chair of the HFMA East Midlands branch. She is an experienced charity trustee, including at a hospice, and has been chair of governors at a large primary school in a relatively deprived urban area.
Joanna is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and has an MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge.
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