August

 

APSE Service Awards 2019 – Finalist announced!

APSE is delighted to announce the finalists for our Service Awards 2019! These awards recognise the very best in local government frontline services across the UK and following a rigorous round of judging the finalist councils have now been announced. See if you can spot your council – click on the link for a full list of this year’s finalists.

 

Annual Seminar 2019

Wednesday 11 – Thursday 12 September

APSE is delighted to announce details of the APSE Annual Seminar 2019. The Seminar (including the APSE AGM and APSE Annual Service Awards Charity Dinner) will take place in the historical and cultural city of Newcastle. This year’s programme takes a special focus on how local councils can deliver for local people and local economies, celebrating a New Municipalism that places local councils at the heart of positive change. For more information, and to book your place, visit the Annual Seminar hub on the APSE website.

 

Housing for a fairer society – APSE’s latest housing research

APSE launched its latest housing research ‘Housing for a Fairer Society: The role of councils in ensuring stronger communities’ at the House of Lords on Tuesday 16 July with a panel of speakers chaired by Lord Richard Best OBE. The research has been produced with the Town and Country Planning Association and exposes the impact of permitted development rights as a potential threat to the health and wellbeing of residents. You can download the report for free from the APSE website.

 

Climate emergencies – how can your council respond?

With over 100 councils making climate emergency declarations to date, APSE recently held a sold-out seminar in Liverpool on the importance of climate change action. Miss the event? Presentations from the seminar have been uploaded to the APSE website. Click here for more information.

 

APSE Energy has also released a new report – Local authority climate emergency declarations – which outlines the practical pathways open to councils in taking forward action on climate change; moving beyond a declaration and into real actions to decarbonise services, encourage behaviour change in local areas through residents and businesses and realign corporate strategy, to place climate considerations at the heart of every service and every action taken by the council in the short, mid and long term. The full report is available to all APSE Energy members without charge. All APSE members can download an executive summary of the report from our website. Click on the link for more information.

Interested in learning more about how your council can adapt to climate change? APSE’s Renewables and Climate Change Advisory Group looks at strategic issues including energy management, resource allocation, the impacts of climate change and efficiency in use of natural resources. Click here for more information on how to sign up.

 

APSE Direct – June/July

The latest edition of APSE Direct is available to read online. This special climate emergency edition includes the articles:

• Examining the Loistics Emissions Reduction Scheme – Rebecca Kite, Freight Transport Association;
• How we successfully installed batteries alongside solar panels – Berneslai Homes;
• Rebuilding Capacity: The case for insourcing public contracts – Mo Baines, APSE;
• A closer look at fraud in local government – Jenny Craven, Pinsent Masons;
• Ensuring the leadership of the New Municipalism – Professor Steven Griggs.

Click here to read to read online!

 

Neighbourhood services and sustainable local government – APSE’s latest finance research

APSE’s new report - written by the New Policy Institute -  finds that over the nine years from 2009/10 resources devoted to neighbourhood services across Britain fell 27 per cent representing a total of £8.9bn in 2017/18 prices. Given the importance of these services to local communities and local businesses the report builds an argument for a sustained increase in local government spending on neighbourhood services, supported by an analysis of how increases might be distributed across the 70 or so individual services. You can download the report for free from the APSE website.

 

APSE Training - Civil and Criminal Fraud Investigations 

In order to give local authorities a much-needed edge, APSE’s upcoming Civil and Criminal Fraud Investigations 1-day awareness training sessions offer those on the front line of anti-fraud efforts the opportunity to gain greater familiarity with the threats that they face. Experts from APSE and Pinsent Masons, an international law firm with sector-leading expertise, will offer insights into how best to prevent, identify and remedy instances of fraud when they occur. Click here for more information on dates and the contents of the course.

Click here for the full list of current APSE Training courses.

 

Calling local authority housing and building apprentices!

APSE is now taking submissions for the Housing and Building Apprentice of the Year Awards 2019! The awards are open to every authority and their partner organisations in the UK. We will be running three award categories in:

1. Mechanical and Electrical (E.g: Plumbers, Electricians, Gas Fitters)
2. Building Skills (E.g: Bricklayers, Joiners, Plasterers
3. Professional services category (E.g: Architects, Designers)

Entry to these awards is free of charge. Finalists will be presented with their awards at the APSE building maintenance and repairs seminar 2019 on 3 October in Stoke-on-Trent.  Give your apprentices the chance to prove themselves as winners and see what they can do. Register your interest online for the awards, and receive a portfolio template.

 

Calling local authority Refuse, Recycling, Street Scene, Grounds and Parks apprentices and innovators!

Apprentice of the Year applications are now being taken for the Refuse, Recycling, Street Scene, Grounds and Parks seminar. The apprentice awards scheme is open to candidates from all stages of training and have been running successfully for 16 years throughout the UK. The aim of the awards is not only to give recognition to our future tradespersons, but also to the councils themselves who continue to invest in the workforce of the future.

We will be running two award categories at this ceremony:

1. Horticulturalist (E.g: Gardener, Horticulturalist etc)
2. Street scene /Waste collection (E.g. street cleansing , fly-tipping and graffiti removal, waste and recycling collection etc)

If you would like to register your interest online for the awards, and receive a portfolio template, please click here and complete the form.

 

The Refuse, Recycling, Street Scene, Grounds and Parks Innovation Awards will also return. These will again be held with waste and recycling, street scene and parks and greenspace services all being highlighted and their work recognised. The deadline to register for the Innovation Awards is 6 September. Click here to download an application form.

 

Local Government Awards Northern Ireland - Call to entries!

These awards showcase brilliance in service provision, new initiatives and untiring commitment from council officers, councillors and their partners. The Awards offer public recognition whilst giving inspiration & learning to peers who deliver front line and other key local government services.  To download the submission pack and guidance brochure, please click here. All completed application forms must be returned by email to Caitlyn King at [email protected] by 4.00pm on Monday 16 September 2019

 

The Rural Community Energy Fund - The BEIS Local Energy Team

The Rural Community Energy Fund has now re-opened! This is a funding scheme to support rural communities in your region develop renewable energy projects, providing economic and social benefits to the community. Click on the link for further information.

 

New Approved Partner – Resomation

APSE is delighted to welcome Resomation to the APSE Approved Partner scheme. Resomation is the name given to water cremation and is the new alternative to flame cremation and burial. The company was established in 2008 by Sandy Sullivan to realise his ambition to offer the public an environmentally friendly end of life alternative to burial and flame cremation. The company became part of LBBC Group in 2016 who have since provided renewed support for the introduction of this process worldwide. Click here to learn more about this exciting new partnership.

 

Upcoming seminars and advisory group dates

Seminars / Energy Seminars / Advisory groups: National, Wales, Northern Ireland Scotland, Southern,