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. 

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.

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.

Data protection requirements for all organisations in the UK and Scotland are governed by law setting out what needs to be complied with and how.  However, the new Data Protection and Digital Information (No2) Bill now moving through Parliament is expected to conclude in early 2024.  It contains a range of changes with implications for all data practitioners and data protection officers, impacting on when, how and why compliance is needed.  What do data practitioners and their organisations need to understand about the new Act, what changes and responses will be required and what are the other latest and next broader drivers of change in the data environment?

This 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 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.

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.