Planners, developers and communities are all anxious to secure a well-balanced national planning framework for Scotland following the implementation of NPF4.  However, a range of challenges lie ahead in meeting the demands around development planning and management, resourcing the planning system adequately and driving best practice performance.  This conference looks at the key themes flowing from the adoption and implementation of NPF4 and the roll out of supporting guidance.  It will also examine what all stakeholders need to know about what is happening now and what is coming next.

This conference will take place online.

The Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, Ministers and MSPs control legislation, policy and spending decisions directly impacting upon the activities of all organisations and people in Scotland. Informed, good decision making is important in good times, but absolutely critical in bad times. These remain difficult times. War in Ukraine, a weakened domestic and global economy, high inflation, volatile UK Government and stark consequences for public finances and public spending - all while still in the after effects of pandemic - require the best judgement. So, in the midst of wave after wave of uncertainty buffeting Scotland's public services, private sector and third sector, it is essential to understand how to effectively influence, inform and connect with the key decision makers as they respond to the challenges ahead.

This conference will take place online.

Effective regulation in the public, private and third sectors is essential in guaranteeing the quality services and products Scottish consumers receive. However, public sector budgets are under threat. Private sector businesses are competing for consumers who have increasingly tight budgets. Third sector organisations face another period of acute funding uncertainty. How can bodies across all three sectors deliver compliance in regulation and scrutiny in challenging circumstances? The challenge is to comply with current expectations, prepare for what is coming next and still deliver what consumers expect. The question is, how?

This conference will take place online.

Placemaking now sits at the heart of almost all policy development and delivery in Scotland.  It is both an objective and a process.  However the cumulative resources needed to deliver effective placemaking across all Scottish project scales and geographies are significant.  Where, therefore, will the funding come from to match demand?  How do we reconcile the differing needs of both the public and private sectors?  What will it take to move placemaking in Scotland from planning to delivery?

Scotland is not short of projects with the potential to deliver successful placemaking.  However the objectives of the public sector and the challenges facing the private sector often conflict, threatening to limit placemaking at scale.  The public sector expects the highest environmental standards and quality of public realm, driven by the need to support sustainable and successful communities while driving for net zero.  Developers increasingly argue that development is now becoming too expensive to do with all the add-ons required by policy and sought during development negotiation.

Can the Scottish Government and the Scottish public sector put more resource on the table to draw the private sector into investing?  The public sector balance sheet is not strong.  Is it possible for Scottish Government investment to be more tailored, joined-up and coherent across sectoral, service and project boundaries?

This conference looks at what it will really take to deliver on Scotland's placemaking potential.  It considers the key factors to be addressed across national and local government and the role of other agents and players.  It reflects on the challenge of ensuring placemaking projects are not thwarted by silo practices in how budgets, policy and decision making are controlled by various partners.

The conference examines these challenges in three sessions:

This conference will take place online

This conference – the 10th annual care of older people in Scotland conference – focuses on the core challenges facing us now in care delivery for older people.  We want everyone to have the best health and care possible in older age.  However, we are getting older and living longer in larger numbers – so the costs of care are rising remorselessly.  At the same time the economic outlook is weak and public finances are under severe pressure. In this context how do we fund care excellence?  How do we best structure services and scrutiny?  What are the core elements of best practice that we should be trying to achieve in contemporary care of older people?

This conference will take place online.

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.

Practicing good governance in all public and third sector organisations which receive public money is essential.  It demonstrates transparency, accountability, inclusion and responsiveness to service user needs.  However, poor governance has the opposite, destructive, effect.  Even bodies delivering value for money and good service delivery can see those achievements devalued by poor governance.  How should organisations promote, practice and protect the good governance which helps prevent institution and career ending episodes? 

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.

Providing protection against discrimination is a legal requirement for all organisations.  Age, disability, race, gender, religion, cultural background and sexual orientation are all covered by legislation. Supporting the rights of people with protected characteristics is an obligation in equality law and a characteristic of successful organisations.  However, failure to do so is potentially reputationally damaging for both organisations and individuals.  In the worst cases, it can be career – or even organisation – ending.  While compliance is one thing, actively and successfully promoting equality, diversity and inclusion is another.  What do you need to know?  Where is current good practice heading?  How do organisations get it right?

This conference will take place online.

Scotland's public services provide critical support to every age group, community and area of activity. They are essential to wellbeing, the economy, public safety and quality of life. However a tsunami of challenges to our services already exist, with many more on the horizon. The labour market is constricted, creating acute staffing shortages. COVID has left services struggling to catch up and keep up with demand. War has driven economic instability and UK government fiscal uncertainty suggests serious funding issues for public services. The context seems to be that change is now permanent. So what can those leading and delivering our critical public services do to cope with the challenges of now and prepare for those which are coming? How can they harness smart service design approaches and core elements of delivery to provide services which remain resilient, reliable and relevant? What opportunities exist to work differently and better in trying to do more with less?

The conference will take place online.