Day 1 Thursday 17th October
Subject to change
09:00–10:15
Study tour: Wharfside & Civic Quarter: Re-inventing the Urban Heartland
Meet Solace Staff at Main Entrance, The Point
Many northern City Centres have seen a welcome renaissance in recent decades – but how do you rejuvenate other urban areas, away from the bright lights of city core? This study tour will explore the Trafford Civic Quarter and adjacent Wharfside neighbourhood to show how sport, heritage and strong design can lead regeneration in an inner urban location.
The award-winning Civic Quarter Area Action Plan and emerging Wharfside Development Framework aim to make the most of existing sporting landmarks, breathe new life into the existing built environment and deliver over 9,000 new homes in the process.
You can find out more about each of the regeneration projects here:
Civic Quarter Area Action Plan (trafford.gov.uk)
Trafford Wharfside Development Framework
Masterplan - Trafford Design Code
Places on this walking study tour are allocated on a first come, first serve basis. Please log in to your Solace Portal and navigate to the Manage Registration tab and select the ellipsis for more options and then 'purchase new session' to select your session. If the session is fully subscribed, please submit your details onto the waitlist and we will be in touch if a place becomes available. If you have reserved a space and are no longer able to join us, we kindly ask you let us know so we can release your place to the waitlist.
09:00–10:45
Springboard Registration and Session
Library
Facilitator:
Leadership and Organisational Development Support Facilitator
Solace Associate
Guest Speaker:
Solace President and Chief Executive at Dorset Council
This session is part of the Springboard programme for cohort 2023–24.
10:00–10:45
Registration
Main Entrance, The Point
10:00–10:50
Refreshments
Exhibition Hall, The Point
11:00–11:10
Welcome from Trafford Council
11:10–11:20
President's Opening Speech
11:20–12:10
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Dr Khadija Owusu
Main Stage, The Point
Award-winning Leader, International Speaker and Junior Doctor
Chair:
Solace President and Chief Executive, Dorset Council
12:10–13:10
PANEL SESSION
Influencing Inclusion
in Local Communities
Main Stage, The Point
President of ICMA and County Administrator & County Administrator at Washington County, Oregon
Vice President of Taituarā and Chief Executive, Horowhenua District Council
Chair:
Chief Executive
Brighton & Hove City Council
Rural and diverse communities often need tailored approaches to effectively represent their voices in local government. This session explores culturally informed strategies from various multicultural backgrounds that create human-centred, inclusive services designed to meet the unique needs of these communities. Using examples such as COVID-19 outreach, we will demonstrate how innovative methods can break down barriers and ensure that all voices are heard and included in decision-making processes.
13:10–14:10
Exhibition and Sandwich Lunch
Exhibition Hall, The Point
14:20–15:10
ROUNDTABLE
Multi-Scale and Complex Collaborative Delivery
By Invitation Only
Club Suite
Head of Strategy and Performance, Scottish Police Authority
Superintendent Leanne Blacklaw
Superintendent, Scottish Police Scotland
The session will explore how the delivery of a place-based community confidence action research project in several communities across Scotland has involved complex collaboration between a series of national and local statutory and non-statutory bodies, and active participation on the part of communities.
14:20–15:10
ROUNDTABLE
What is Best for Local Authorities in 2025: A Service Partnership or an In-House Service Delivery?
Honours Lounge
Ian Carter
Head of Growth and New Markets
Liberata
John O’Neill
Solutions Director
Liberata
Delivered by
Senior officers need to make decisions based on accurate and current information. This session will look at debunking the most common myths when using a service partnership: • The council will lose control of service delivery • There will be job losses • In-house service performance will be better • In-house services are cheaper • There is no real partnership / no compromises
14:20–15:10
WORKSHOP
Community Resilience – What Are The Options?
Library
Head of Resilience, National Emergencies Trust
Managing Director at Hartlepool Borough Council and Civil & Community Resilience Policy Lead at Solace
People today face huge challenges. From the very youngest to the oldest, from the individual to our communities, change is occurring – economic, environmental, and social - and there is a need for public sector agencies to come together, to support our communities in learning to adapt and innovate. This session will introduce a relatively new fundraising and fund distribution organisation National Emergencies Trust. In doing so it will unpack a little as to why it was so necessary to create it, how it can help local authorities in times of a major emergency, and how it will help build community resilience in the recovery phase of the emergency.
14:20–15:10
WORKSHOP
Artificial Intelligence – A Truly Transformational Shift in Local Government
Main stage
As UK Councils navigate the dual challenge of reduced income and rising costs, particularly in social care services, the urgency for innovative approaches in public service delivery has never been more pressing. Generative AI has emerged as a key tool in this landscape, transforming local authority operations by enhancing community engagement, budget management and service quality. It marks a significant shift in public administration, moving from traditional human-centric methods to a more efficient and streamlined hybrid approach that combines human insight with AI. This technology directly addresses financial and service quality challenges, boosting staff focus on impactful work and public engagement, while also offering substantial savings in the current economic climate. Central to the programme is AI-driven demand management, capable of reducing service loads by 25% through automated responses and efficient resource allocation in areas like social services. This not only streamlines service delivery but also improves staff efficiency and satisfaction. This session draws upon such transformative outcomes and evidences the discussion with real examples from UK councils.
This session will explore why self-awareness, self-management and self-regulation are vital in leadership. It will introduce practical tools and tips which can be put into practice easily for continued growth and development.
14:20–15:10
WORKSHOP
Knowledge Transfer: Developing Future Talent
Members Lounge
Director of Learning
Solace
Leadership and Organisational Development Support Facilitator
Solace Associate
This session is intended for conference delegates nominated by their authority as Trailblazers and will be a welcome to the Solace family and an opportunity to network and think about your future development stretch. The session will be participative, and you will be working with delegates from other authorities to explore how to develop yourself, build your network and think about your personal branding. The session will provide delegates with some practical take aways and is intentionally not a finished piece of work but will provide a prompt for further personal reflection and action.
15:20–15:50
Exhibition and Refreshments
Exhibition Hall, The Point
16:00–16:50
WORKSHOP
Participative Action Research: Building Community Confidence in the Police
Honours Lounge
Strategy and Research Lead, Scottish Police Authority
Community Inspector, Police Scotland
The session will explore how the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland have worked with four communities in Scotland to improve trust and confidence in the police, as part of a 3-year Community Confidence Action Research Project. All four communities taking part in the research experience some form of deprivation, as measured by SIMD. The session will explain how the Project team worked has worked with communities to co-identify community issues and co-design and test a series of initiatives, and will cover research findings, challenges and enablers, and collective learning.
16:00–16:50
WORKSHOP
Different Approaches to Budgeting
Members Lounge
Social Care Policy Advisor
CIPFA
Managing Consultant
CIPFA
It is essential that organisations understand and embrace different approaches to budgeting so that they can realistically accommodate the ambitions of local leaders and communities. • Reflect on the latest lessons learnt from CIPFA’s financial resilience assurance reviews • Hear case studies of how Local Authorities have managed demand in Adult Social Care to deliver reduced cost pressures • Understand why the key to improved services starts with good financial management and how the best organisations make those hard decisions
16:00–16:50
WORKSHOP
How AI is Shaping the Future of SEND Services and the EHCP Process
1864
SEND/EHCP Advisor
Agilisys
Product Manager
Agilisys
Head
Agilisys Transformation
Assistant Director
Outcomes Matter Consulting
Join us for a panel discussion where we'll discuss how AI is enabling SEND case workers to support children and families throughout their EHCP journey. Alongside our partners, we'll dive into how Generative AI technology is helping case workers; save time creating EHCPs, improve the consistency & quality of EHCPs, clear backlogs and ultimately help children to achieve better outcomes. We’ll also share insights into our journey - and how we have developed our solution 'EHCP Plus' with SEND case workers.
16:00–16:50
WORKSHOP
Head in the Clouds: Rapid Recovery From A Cyber Attack Through Strategic Innovation
Library
Assistant Director - People Management, ICT and Digital, St Helens Borough Council
Director for Policy and Transformation
St Helens Borough Council
We will be sharing our learning and approach to adopting a cloud model and how this helped us to respond to the substantial cyber attack we faced last year. Not only did this enable staff to continue working with minimum disruption, but also ensured there was minimum impact to residents and businesses in the borough. We will also discuss how we engaged with all staff and members on the issue and how all our workforce played their part to help us recover as quickly as possible. We will also look at learnings from the attack and how they are helping us to prepare for a possible attack in the future.
17:00–18:00
Sponsored Drinks Reception
Exhibition Hall, The Point
Chris Hornung
Managing Director for Public Sector
Totalmobile
19:00–19:45
Summit Presidential Drinks Reception
Mezzanine Floor, The Point
Kerren Daly
Partner
Browne Jacobson
19:45–00:00
Summit Charity Dinner for The British Heart Foundation
Main Stage, The Point
Andrew Mindenhall
Chief Executive
Agilisys
