23rd June 2022
LGA Conference Events with Solace Policy Board members
Along with the rest of local government, Solace is eagerly looking forward to the LGA Conference taking place 28-30 June. Solace President Joanne Roney OBE and Solace Chair Gavin Jones, along with Solace policy spokespeople including Ian Thomas, Jon McGinty, Kersten England, Matt Prosser and Robin Tuddenham are due to be speaking at the following sessions throughout the conference:
Tuesday 28 June
10:00-11:30 Closed session for local authority Chief Executives – Leading in a crisis – spotlight on you! And insights from working ‘on the inside’ of central government, King’s Suite.
Featuring: Gavin Jones, Solace Chair and CEX Essex County Council.
Alongside: Tom Walker (Executive Director: Economy, Investment and Public Health at Essex County Council and Former Director of Cities and Local Growth Unit), Professor Carolyn Wilkins OBE (Birmingham Leadership Institute, University of Birmingham).
Join this session to hear from a Chief Executive who has direct experience of leading a council in his role as Commissioner, appointed in response to the publication of a Best Value inspection report. The session will also provide an opportunity to opportunity to learn from recent experiences of local government colleagues who have worked in central government sharing how the ‘machine’ works and the best ways to influence.
12:45-1:30 ‘New Local Authority Chief Executives’ welcome lunch with Mark Lloyd, King’s Suite.
Featuring: Joanne Roney OBE, Solace President and CEX Manchester City Council.
Alongside: Anne-Marie Bond (CEX Torbay Council), Mark Lloyd CBE (CEX LGA).
This is a closed session for local authority Chief Executives, specifically aimed at those colleagues who have started their first council Chief Executive position over the last year, to provide them with an opportunity to meet others new to this role and find out more about the support the LGA, SOLACE and the sector as a whole can offer them in their first Chief Executive leadership role.
15:20-16:10 Supporting Ukrainian families – council’s role in supporting arrivals from Ukraine, Auditorium.
Featuring: Robin Tuddenham, Solace policy spokesperson for Economic Prosperity and CEX Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council.
Alongside: Lord Richard Harrington (Minister for Refugees, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Home Office), Oleksandr Senkevych (Mayor of Mykolaiv, Ukraine), to be chaired by Cllr Izzi Seccome OBE (Leader, Warwickshire County Council).
Councils support and deliver many programmes for refugees and asylum seekers that allow new arrivals to build new lives in the UK. This session will explore councils’ key role in supporting both Ukrainian families and the local areas that support them. Councils want to work with central government to find sustainable solutions that minimise the pressures and risks on councils, their local partners and communities, and on vulnerable individuals themselves across all the schemes This session will include an update from government, with plenty of chances to ask questions and share practice.
Wednesday 29 June
11:05-11:30 Spotlight on ActEarly: A city collaborative approach to improve life chances for children living in deprived areas, Innovation Zone.
Featuring: Kersten England, Solace policy spokesperson for Civil and Community Resilience and CEX Bradford Metropolitan District Council.
Alongside: Will Tuckley (CEX London Borough of Tower Hamlets), John Wright (Director of Research, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council and Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust), to be introduced by Cllr Liz Green of The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames Council and Vice-Chair of the LGA’s Improvement and Innovation Board.
Over the last two years the ActEarly Collaboratories in Bradford and Tower Hamlets have been developing expertise in whole complex system approaches that address the interacting economic, social, physical, cultural and learning influences on later health and wellbeing – in particular, for children and young people. The approach unites research expertise with local government, local partners and communities to co-produce, implement and evaluate upstream prevention solutions to improve local environments and give young people a healthier and fairer future. Over 50 interventions have been implemented and evaluated using this approach. These interventions have contributed to a new understanding of upstream influences on local health and early successes are already driving service re-design and investment.
12:25-13:10 The workforce capacity challenge, King’s Suite.
Featuring: Ian Thomas CBE, Solace policy spokesperson for Infrastructure and Planning and CEX Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames, and Matt Prosser, Solace policy spokesperson for Leadership and Learning and CEX Dorset City Council.
Alongside: Naomi Cooke (Head of Workforce, LGA), Cllr Bridget Smith (Leader, South Cambridgeshire District Council).
As councils up and down the country consider how to recruit and retain staff, particularly in those hard-to-reach skills areas, we discuss what works, how apprenticeships can be part of the solution, and explore what more can be done.
15:30-16:15 Closed session for LA CEX’s: Managing Inflationary Pressures, King’s Suite.
Featuring: Joanne Roney OBE, Solace President and CEX Manchester City Council.
Alongside: Naomi Cooke (Head of Workforce, LGA, Barry Quirk CBE (CEX RB Kensington & Chelsea), to be chaired by Sarah Pickup (Deputy CEX, LGA).
As councils continue to support communities experiencing rising living costs, at the same time they are managing their own inflationary pressures. This session will consider the range of issues this poses for Chief Executives and explore tips for dealing with those challenges.
Thursday 30 June
12:10 – 1:10 Closed session for local authority Chief Executives – leading through a cyber incident, King’s Suite.
Featuring: Jon McGinty, Solace deputy spokesperson for Digital Leadership and Managing Director, Gloucester City Council.
Alongside: Mark Carroll (CEX London Borough of Hackney), to be chaired by Sarah Pickup (Deputy CEX, LGA).
Click here to view the full LGA Conference programme.