APSE Wales seminar and annual general meeting 2016

View the full seminar flyer here

This seminar will consider the momentous changes facing Wales in the way local authorities will operate in the coming years. The justification for the proposals is that the current structures of local government in Wales are unsustainable, with local authorities duplicating and delivering the same services, and therefore only by merging authorities will savings and efficiencies be made.

However, there are wide-ranging concerns about losing the ’local’ in local government if organisations become bigger. Reliance upon local authority services in Wales is considerable, with more people employed in the public sector than in any other part of the UK, therefore by reducing the number of local authorities and by association their workforce structures, this could have enormous impacts on communities, local businesses and families, as jobs and local markets are lost. 

Speakers will look at how the current period of uncertainty could allow alternative options to whole-scale re-organisation to be considered, via greater partnership working and income generation etc. 

Experiences of re-organisation in Scotland and Northern Ireland will also be discussed together with some of the lessons learnt.  Consideration will also be given to the  findings of a report developed from discussions with elected members and senior officers from across Wales carried out by APSE and De Montfort University Leicester about alternatives to mergers and the value of cross-sectoral working.

Workshops will also be held to allow more detailed discussions to take place as to how many of the strategic considerations can be delivered at the operational level.

This one day event hopes to highlight the opportunities which may still be available to local authorities in Wales to argue the case that they are capable of delivering the efficiencies and economies needed without major and costly re-organisation to take place.

Attendance at this APSE one-day event is essential for all officers and members with responsibility for delivering services or involved in policy and it is structured to allow plenty of time for debate and questions.

The events are always popular and usually sell out fast so please book early to avoid disappointment.