The Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, Ministers and MSPs control legislation, policy and spending decisions affecting 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 weak economy, a new UK Government facing tough public finances and the unpredictable and imminent consequences of a second Trump Presidency - these all 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.

Conference supported by Together (Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights)

This conference will take place online. 

Scotland's population is ageing, with 25% of all Scots now sixty or older, and that trend is only set to continue. However, care services for our older people face acute resource constraints at the same time as demand is rising sharply. Is it still possible to have quality, quantity and stability in our care services?

This conference will take place online. 

Scotland formally has a national housing crisis as every sector of the housing market faces demand that dramatically outstrips supply. The Scottish Government and local authorities have officially declared housing emergencies. Developers are struggling with costs and wider supply side constraints. The affordable housing budget for 2024/25 was cut by £196 million. People who want to buy and who want to rent face unaffordable costs in both sectors. How do we break this downward cycle? What policy action needs to be taken and how do we increase the supply of housing as quickly and sustainably as possible?

This conference will take place online. 

The Scottish Government has recently launched and concluded three planning consultations. The first covers the National Planning Framework and local development plan amendments.  The second relates to masterplan consent areas.  The third looks at resourcing Scotland’s planning system. The intention is to ensure that planning is more flexible and nimble and also better resourced in funding and staffing terms. What are the likely outcomes of these consultations? Will final decisions result in a system that works faster and more efficiently? Will the planning environment and outcomes for planners, developers and communities be improved? 

This conference will take place online.

Emergency planning, resilience, business continuity and risk reduction are the activities we plan, practice and train for in the hope they will never be needed.  They mitigate the worst when it happens and bring assurance and stability when it does not.  However, the threats presented to normal order are magnified by local, national and international events which can bring instability to our own front door. So how do we plan for the unexpected, ensure that we learn from every opportunity, collaborate to maximise best practice and keep our emergency planning and resilience practitioners, and our responders at every tier, well-resourced and able to prevent and react?

This conference will take place online.

The 2016 Programme for Government pledged to substantially eliminate the poverty and attainment gap within a decade.  A tough enough challenge to achieve.  Since then, COVID has impacted massively on education, childhood development, the economy, incomes, benefits and curriculum delivery.  So where do we now stand in attempting to eradicate by 2026 what may be the biggest driver of long term inequality in Scotland?

This conference will take place online.

Freedom of Information in Scotland has become both an effective tool for public accountability in Scotland and a growing demand on the resources of our public sector bodies. However, questions over compliance, scope, operation and cost have increasingly come to the fore. What do Scottish bodies covered by FOI – and others that may be pulled into its reach – need to know about where we stand and what may be coming next?

This conference takes place online.

AI is already here and every public, private and third sector body in Scotland has to understand what it is going to mean for them. Its impact will be deep and wide ranging, so what do organisations need to do to understand it, react to it and adapt to it?

This conference will take place online.

The Scottish National Care Service was supposed to 'go live' in 2025-26.  However, serious concerns on governance, staffing and funding led to a rethink, renegotiation and reshaping of the proposal.  It now faces a new target date of 2028-29.  No staff transfers are now proposed, and a new National Care Service Board is to oversee reformed local integration authorities and the co-design of all aspects of structure and services delivery.  So, what is the proposal as it now stands and what will it mean for care providers and consumers?

The conference takes place online.