Fraud in public services erodes trust, wastes scarce resources and undermines the delivery of essential outcomes. Yet despite stronger systems and awareness, new risks keep emerging. From procurement and grants to cyber and payroll fraud and beyond, fraud keeps evolving. How can Scotland’s public sector move beyond strategy and compliance to embed prevention and detection in every part of its operations?

This conference takes place online.

Scotland’s public and third sector leaders are being asked to hold service quality steady while funding tightens, costs rise and demand keeps shifting. The result is a familiar pattern of short-term firefighting, incremental savings that often slip and transformation programmes that struggle to work in the real world. To complicate matters further, Shona Robison MSP – Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, Scottish Government – explicitly called for public sector reform to deliver £1.5 billion in efficiencies in her 13th January Scottish Parliament statement.

This conference takes place online.

Freedom of Information in Scotland is entering a pressure-test year. Reform proposals are live in Parliament. The question being asked is not only whether the law should change, but whether day-to-day FOI practice is keeping pace with how modern public services are delivered – through arms-length bodies, contracted provision and increasingly complex partnerships.

This conference takes place online.

The Data (Use and Access) Act 2025  - DUAA - marks the UK’s most significant round of post-Brexit data reform to date. Its impact is now moving from 'what’s in the Bill?' to 'what do we need to change on Monday morning?'. Commencement is now under way and further provisions will bed in through 2026. Scottish data practitioners now have to keep pace with shifting regulatory expectations while continuing to deliver safe, lawful services under real operational pressure.

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.

Care experienced children deserve consistency, dignity and lifelong support. However, responsibilities are currently split, services are stretched and progress toward The Promise is uneven. The Scottish Government's new Children (Care, Care Experience and Services Planning) (Scotland) Bill aims to address this. So what is in the Bill, will it work, who will it impact and when will it happen?

This conference takes place online.

These are turbulent times. Imminent Scottish Parliament elections, weak public finances, potentially seismic domestic political change, continuing war in Ukraine, the unpredictable global consequences of the second Trump Presidency – all require the best judgement. Amid waves of uncertainty buffeting Scotland's public services, private sector and third sector, it is essential to know how to influence key decision makers as they respond to the challenges ahead.

This conference will take 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.

Foster care is at the heart of Scotland’s commitment to care-experienced children. Yet fostering services face increasing strain amid rising demand, placement instability, and a shortage of carers. The challenge now is how to reform and strengthen fostering to deliver on the ambitions of The Promise while responding to urgent pressures in practice.

This conference takes place online.

Public service reform in Scotland is no longer optional – it is now urgent. While Scotland’s public bodies are under pressure from rising demand, constrained resources and accelerating change, they must still deliver better outcomes for people and communities. However, systemic inertia, fragmented leadership and uneven performance threaten the pace and depth of change required. How therefore do we now move from intention to action – across organisations, systems and localities – to deliver real reform?

This conference takes place online.