2026

G0620 - Supreme Court Ruling on Gender and Sex - 310726

A local authority is seeking to understand how local authorities are responding to the implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on gender and sex.

In particular, it would be helpful to know:

• Whether the authority has reviewed, or plans to review, any policies, procedures, services, facilities, or guidance as a result of the ruling.
• Any actions, good practice, or lessons learned that could be shared.
• Any key challenges or considerations that have informed the authority's approach.

The authority would also welcome contact with any councils willing to discuss their experience further.

If respondents would prefer their comments to be anonymised before being shared, please indicate this in your response.

G0619 - Staff car parking provision in rural authorities - 020726

A rural local authority is seeking information about staff car parking provision in other rural local authorities. They would like to know:

1. What parking is provided at main office buildings?
2. How many parking spaces are provided?
3. Is there a charge for parking?
4. If there is a charge, how much is it?

G0618 - Neurodiversity - 010726

APSE is conducting research into the extent to which local authority services meet the needs of neurodiverse communities. This includes local residents, the council’s workforce, contractors, and senior managers and leaders.

Neurodiversity is recognised as a group of conditions and traits with include but are not exhaustive of Autism Spectrum Condition, Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder, Bi-polar Disorder, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia and Tourettes.

To build on best practice and better understand the challenges of providing excellent frontline services, we would be grateful to receive any policies or case studies relating to:

• Meeting the needs of neurodiverse communities through service design or reasonable adjustments
• Workforce development, recruitment and onboarding
• Statistics or examples of your ND workforce population
• Work within communities, e.g. local residents or self-help groups you may have supported.
• Engaging people with ND in shaping services, e.g. service users or workforce practitioners
• Communication methods and language
• Paperwork and forms which have been adjusted to accommodate ND (e.g. dyslexia form, use of Easy Read)
• How you accommodate people with ND through organisational change.
• Any ways in which you build on the strengths and talents of your ND communities

Information is welcome from any frontline or corporate service. Case studies, statistics and sensitive information can be anonymized if preferred. We would also be interested in receiving information about any risks or issues of poor practice you have identified.

G0613 - Insourcing pest control services - 020626
A member authority has an outsourced pest control service but are exploring whether there may be benefits to bringing this service back in-house.

The member authority would welcome any information or examples from other local authorities, including:

•  The positives and negatives experienced when bringing pest control in-house
• Any business cases, options appraisals or lessons learned
• Information on councils that are moving towards in-house provision, or conversely moving away from it, and the reasons why

G0617 - Hot Weather Working – Office Environments - 060726

A local authority is seeking insight from APSE members on current guidance and practices relating to working conditions during periods of hot weather, particularly within office-based environments.

They are interested in whether any organisations are working to defined temperature thresholds or implementing additional control measures during excessive heat, noting the absence of clear maximum temperature guidance.

Examples of relevant policies, risk assessments, or best practice approaches would be welcomed to help inform their response.

G0616 - Pest Control Provision - 240626

A member authority is conducting research in relation to how councils/ other public sector organisations provide Pest Control services.

We would greatly appreciate input from public sector peers on the following areas:

Q1: For your own venues/ buildings and sites, are Pest Control services provided by

1. An inhouse team;
2. An external contractor; or
3. A hybrid model (i.e. internal Pest Control Officers/ team complimented by external contractor).

Q2: If Pest Control is provided by an inhouse team

1. how many staff are in this team?
2. what department/ unit manages the service?
3. approximately how many sites do they cover?

Q3. If an external contractor is used, how is the contract managed ? (e.g. centrally co-ordinated as part of estates management; by Health & Environmental function; or decentralised to site managers)?

Q4. Do you provide Pest Control services for residents in the council area by an inhouse team and if yes, do you charge for this service?

Q5. Please provide contact details for colleagues who would be willing to discuss their experiences and/ or approaches in relation to improving service delivery models in more detail.

G0615 - Best practice examples of Service Level Agreements Sought - 080626

APSE Training is currently revising the popular Service Level Agreements (SLAs) course and in line with APSE’s values of sharing best practice amongst local authorities we would welcome

any current best practice examples of SLAs that APSE member authorities would be willing to share with us for learning and development purposes.

We would also be interested in receiving any poor practice examples to help other councils avoid the pitfalls. The SLAs can be anonymised if preferred. We would be happy to provide confidential feedback if requested to any Councils submitting SLAs . SLAs are welcome from any frontline service sector regardless of size, plus agreements covering multiple service provision.

G0614 - Service Design and Transformation - 050626

As part of a Service Design and Transformation Discovery phase, and to complete a benchmarking report that brings together desk research, internal departmental analysis, and comparison and learnings with other local and national public sector organisation, we would appreciate assistance from peers in the public sector on the following areas:

• Benchmarking insights, research outputs, or comparative data relevant to public service design, customer contact, digital enablement, or operating models

• Examples of good practice or emerging trends

• Any report formats, structures, or exemplars that we could take inspiration from when shaping our own benchmarking output for readability and impact

• Pointers to case studies, peer authorities, or themed work especially relevant to our challenge

• Contact details of anyone willing to discuss further

G0613 - Insourcing pest control services - 020626

A member authority has an outsourced pest control service but are exploring whether there may be benefits to bringing this service back in‑house.

The member authority would welcome any information or examples from other local authorities, including:

• The positives and negatives experienced when bringing pest control in‑house
• Any business cases, options appraisals or lessons learned
• Information on councils that are moving towards in‑house provision, or conversely moving away from it, and the reasons why

G0612 - People Performance Management and Annual Appraisals – Examples of Good
An authority is currently reviewing its approach to people performance management, particularly annual appraisal processes, and is keen to learn from others across the sector.

APSE is looking for examples of good practice from local authorities –whether that’s innovative approaches, well-established frameworks or simply processes that are working well in practice.

G0611 - Policy/checklist/framework for responsible or sustainable events - 300426
Does your local authority have a Responsible or Sustainable Events Policy, checklist or framework in place? If so, a member would welcome any brief insights on:

• Scale or number of events covered
• How useful the information has been (for officers or members)
• Feedback from organisers
•  Any key lessons learned

Any examples or headline data would be greatly appreciated.

G0610 - Monitoring Employee Safety - 290426
Our Council has recently set up a working group to explore if and how we can develop a central recording system which holds and shares information about customers who pose a threat / risk to DCC staff as the carry out their work.

We are keen to learn about any other local authorities in the APSE network that have developed and are using a system or approach that provides a central location to share and learn about the potential risk that customers / users of services may pose to staff safety.

G0609 - Managing caution lists - 170426
The tenancy Management team in a member authority is after some sector-wide insight and best practice advice.

Within their service they manage a caution list covering tenants in their housing stock and those placed in temporary accommodation. The purpose of the list is to flag individuals who may present a potential risk to operatives or officers when visiting a property, so appropriate precautions can be taken.

However, they are not entirely confident that their current approach is as robust, consistent, or effective as it could be. In particular, they would like to understand how other stock-holding local authorities manage similar arrangements.

They would be great full for any feed back to the following questions. How are your caution lists (or equivalent systems) managed and governed?

• What criteria do you use for adding, reviewing, and removing flags?
• How is information kept proportionate, up to date, and compliant with data protection requirements?
• How is information shared with staff and contractors in a safe and appropriate way?
• What is considered best practice across the sector? Their aim is to learn from others and identify opportunities to improve their own processes, ensuring staff safety while remaining fair, transparent, and lawful.

Any examples, guidance, or summaries of common approaches would be extremely helpful.

G0608 - Council Community / voluntary sector Assets -230326

A member authority would like to know which part of Council Community / voluntary sector orgs Assets sit within your council.

Specifically, things like:

• Who holds & maintains the CVS asset list?
• Who manages contact from prospective interested parties e.g Parish Council’s?
• Where do the CVS asset leases/transfer/disposal sit? (assets in it’s widest form, buildings, play parks, open spaces)?
• Consideration of social value on things like rent levels and disposal amounts Sometimes it sits in Estates/Corporate Landlord area or sometimes in Communities they would be interested in confirming.

It appears these things can sit in an Estates/Corporate Landlord area or sometimes in Communities. I would be interested to know.

G0607 - Data Protection and Information Management - Consultation and Engagement
A local authority member is reviewing its approach to consultation and engagement activity from a data protection and information management perspective and would welcome insight from other councils on current practice. The council’s Information Governance Unit has been reassessing arrangements relating to the collection, retention and management of personal data gathered through public consultation, stakeholder engagement and customer research activity.

Colleagues are invited to respond to the following questions:

1. Record Retention and Disposal

⦁ Does your council have a record retention and disposal schedule relating specifically to the collection of public and stakeholder engagement and customer research? (Yes/No)

⦁ If yes, does the schedule specify:

⦁ How long survey responses are retained?

⦁ Whether it distinguishes between different types of consultation and research (e.g. corporate strategy consultations, service improvement exercises, statutory consultations, perception surveys etc.)?

⦁ If so, please briefly outline how this distinction operates in practice.

2. Deletion of Online Survey Responses

⦁ Does your council delete online survey responses held within engagement platforms or databases? (Yes/No)

⦁ If yes:
⦁ Is deletion carried out at set intervals (e.g. every four years), upon termination of platform procurement contracts, or in accordance with project-specific retention/disposal schedules?
⦁ Do you retain copies of survey analysis reports for record purposes?
⦁ If so, do those reports include written comments submitted as part of survey responses?

3. Collection of Personal Data

⦁ Does your council routinely collect names and email addresses as part of consultation processes?
⦁ (For context, the querying council’s Information Governance Unit has raised concerns that requesting names as part of public consultation or perception surveys may constitute unnecessary or unlawful processing of personal data.)

4. Use of Registration Features

⦁ If your council uses an online engagement platform with a registration

G0605 -Digital Worksheet Software - 160126
Are any local authorities currently using, or have previously explored, software solutions that allow operational staff to complete and store worksheets digitally. Members are invited to share details of any solutions used, along with insights into implementation and any lessons learned.

G0604 - Staff Commuting: Carbon Emissions and Sustainable Travel Initiatives - 050126
A council would welcome any guidance, tools, or practical examples to support the calculation of carbon emissions arising from employees commuting to and from work. In addition, they would be grateful for any insights or case studies relating to projects or initiatives aimed at developing more sustainable commuting practices or behaviours, for example active travel schemes, incentives, infrastructure improvements, or policy approaches. Any shared experiences, methodologies or resources would be greatly appreciated.

G0603 - HAVS monitoring systems - 120126
A member authority would like to know what HAVS monitoring systems other authorities are using?