Employees are critical to every area of work - too few, too inexperienced or insufficiently skilled creates cost, delay and damage to public services and economic competitiveness.  Yet the current labour market shortage is evident across our public, private and third sectors.  Our ability to deliver critical public services is undermined by it.  The need to grow and compete our way out of recession is threatened by it.  The capacity of our third sector to provide essential safety nets in the midst of growing poverty and household financial breakdown is damaged by it.  So how should organisations anticipate, plan and react in order to attract and retain staff, minimise employee turnover and upskill and innovate with their valuable and scarce staff resource?

This conference will take place online.

The Scottish Government is to introduce legislation during this parliament to encourage Community Wealth Building as Scotland's core approach to economic development.  A consultation on the proposed Bill has just concluded.  The aim is to enact new - or amend existing - laws to accelerate this form of economic development in Scotland.  What is Community Wealth Building?  How will it reform who takes decisions locally on what is spent - and on how, where and for what purpose?  The Bill's aim will be to bring economic transformation and to create empowered, resilient local communities.  Therefore, change is coming which will affect current decision makers in the public sector and their other sectoral partners.  Who will lead decision making in the future and how will communities be involved in that process?  How will this affect your organisation?

This conference will take place online.

Scotland's need for capital investment in infrastructure is well researched, documented and signposted.  However, our ability to deliver in core areas such as net zero, transport, housing, digital infrastructure and projects supporting public service delivery is now acutely challenged by the state of our public finances following pandemic, war, recession and budget recklessness.  So, how bad is the picture on our infrastructure prospects and what can be done to prioritise spending, innovate on funding, attract additional investment and find new ways to partner in project delivery?

This conference will take place online.

Debt in Scotland has become a new epidemic. It has claimed more and more individuals and households as the cost of living has risen dramatically and the value of incomes has declined in parallel.  However, for many, options to tighten budgets in order to meet rising costs were already exercised long ago.  There is nowhere left to go.  What advice, support and assistance can be given to the rising number of people falling into debt that they cannot manage?  Can their debt be reduced and stability restored to their living costs?  Can our statutory debt management, debt relief and debt advice resources meet the volume of demand and the scale of need within that demand?

This conference will take place online.

This webinar will explore the effects and consequences of the COVID pandemic for how we live and work in our city and town centres and our high streets. It will examine the opportunities for transformational change in the centre of our urban spaces and will consider current thinking and initiatives to turn threat into opportunity as dramatic structural changes are already unfolding.

Online

This webinar will discuss the immediate and long term effects of coronavirus upon our cities and city-regions with a focus on the potential of data, the meaning of smart cities post-Covid and approaches to smart city region economic recovery in the key engines of our economy.

Online

Organisations in the public, private and third sectors have all had to cope with new working practices driven by the COVID pandemic. Almost overnight, organisations, teams and individuals have had to move to remote virtual working and to remain that way for most of a year. While trying to continue to fulfil their roles – or learning new ones in response to emergency – staff have been expected to deliver for consumers and customers while also coping with the isolation and disorientation of remote home working.

Online

Huge government deficits are being created in order to fund the vast range of support required to keep the economy afloat. How will this debt be paid for in the short, medium and long term and what is the best way to ensure that the associated expenditure most effectively supports the economy, households and a return to growth?

Online