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.

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.

The Scottish Government will publish its Legal Services Regulation Reform Bill sometime between now and June 2023. However the 2021 consultation on reform revealed striking differences of opinion on the way forward, particularly - though not exclusively - between practitioner and consumer interests. So how will the new Bill seek to deliver open, transparent regulation and enhanced accountability and consumer rights? How can this be balanced with concerns about avoiding political interference in the legal profession and legal services and perhaps higher costs to consumers? Most importantly what will this mean for the way the legal profession, legal practices and all those fall within the definition of legal services are scrutinised, regulated and held accountable in future?

This conference will take place online.

Scotland's voluntary sector and the staff and volunteers working within it deliver vitally important services in every Scottish community.  However, uncertainty in funding, future and capacity is one of the few things the sector can be certain about.  So, does the Scottish Government's new Charities Bill address the challenges the sector and its staff face?  What are the implications of the Bill for future regulation and accountability?  How will and can core issues on funding, staffing, regulation, quality, purpose and status be addressed if not in this Bill?

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.

All organisations need to be aware of their data protection obligations. They have to be organised to comply with those requirements, be proactively engaged with the evolving contexts in which they are operating and they should be supporting their data practitioner staff in their roles and in their professional development. However the context in which organisations store, share and use data is fast evolving - both in terms of law and best practice and in respect of how public and private sector organisations operate. How therefore do organisations need to respond in order to remain agile in an ever changing data world so that they support the development and constant upskilling of their critical data protection professionals, ensure the organisation is always learning from best practice and collectively react swiftly to the planned and unplanned changes that can threaten data security?

This conference takes place online.

The Scottish Government’s National Care Service (Scotland) Bill has been published and is now in its parliamentary stages toward becoming law.  However, the scope of the Bill has seen the original proposals grow to now cover adult, child, justice, substance misuse and some mental health services and also proposes a system which would be accountable to Ministers.  So what do you or your organisation need to understand about what was in the published Bill, the responses to it and its parliamentary progress?  How is Scottish Government thinking on the Bill evolving during its parliamentary stages and to what extent is it responding to concerns?

The conference takes 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 are bad times. War in Ukraine, a weakening domestic and global economy, high inflation, constitutional uncertainty, volatile UK Government and its 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.

Scotland needs a vibrant, joined-up, reliable transport system to fuel economic success and nurture thriving, stable communities. However transport provision and future development now face threats from post-COVID adjustment, new work patterns, outcomes of war-driven economic uncertainty, global inflation and the likely spending consequences of high public debt. So what really lies ahead for transport and where and how should we plan and invest for resilience, reliability and growth in our transport systems and services? How does Scottish transport deliver on demand, affordability and net zero when faced with both a climate of global uncertainty and global uncertainty on climate?

This conference will take place online.