December/January

APSE Scotland’s Commercialisation Competition winner - Congratulations to Renfrewshire Council!

Following a rigorous judging process, Renfrewshire Council saw off stiff competition to emerge as the winner of APSE Scotland’s inaugural Commercialisation Competition. The Council will be rewarded with five days of APSE Solutions support to help turn their business idea into a reality. Congratulations Renfrewshire!

APSE has moved!

Due to APSE’s on-going growth we have moved to new premises. Our new address is:-

Association for Public Service Excellence

3rd Floor, Trafford House

Chester Road

Manchester

M32 0RS

In the meantime all our other details remain the same. You can still call the APSE offices on 0161 772 1810 or email us on [email protected]. For more information about the move click here.

APSE is Hiring!

A vacancy has arisen for a post of Principal Advisor based in Oxford. APSE is seeking to appoint a suitably qualified and experienced individual to bring a new range of skills to the existing team and fit within the current mix of portfolios.

The Principal Advisor will provide a broad range of advisory, research and information services to APSE committees and member authorities, as well as having responsibility for coordinating and developing regional membership. The post holder will also take responsibility for managing the existing support team based in Oxford. The deadline for submissions is Friday 25 January.

Click here for more information on how to apply.

Announcing the finalists of the Scottish Building & Housing Apprentice of the Year Awards and Margo Blair Award 2019

The Apprentice Awards celebrate the hard work and exceptional accomplishments of apprentices in the housing and building sector. The competition this year was tough but after careful deliberation, these applicants have successfully made it to the final stage.

APSE is also delighted to announced the finalists of the Margo Blair Award 2019. The Award honours the late Margo Blair, a champion of local government best practice and performance improvement, and recognises the hard work and success of local authority services in Scotland.

Congratulations to all those shortlisted!

The winners will be announced at APSE’s annual Scottish Building and Housing Seminar in Dunblane, taking place on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 February 2019.

Highways Innovation Awards 2019 – register your interest

APSE is pleased to present the 2019 Innovation Awards for highways, street lighting and winter maintenance services. The awards provide participating authorities with an opportunity to showcase their expertise, alongside the results that they have achieved. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony held as part of the annual APSE Highways, Street Lighting and Winter Maintenance Seminar, which will be held in Blackpool on 21-22 March 2019.

The deadline to register your interest is Friday 18 January. For more information and to register your interest, click here.

Latest Briefings

• State of the Market 2018: Catering Services. The survey covers a range of issues of interest to officers and councillors responsible for catering services. Click here to read online. We will be exploring these findings in greater detail at the upcoming APSE Facilities, Catering and Cleaning Management Seminar in Nottingham on 24 January. Click here for more information and to book your place.
• Resources and Waste Strategy for England: Government Policy paper. This briefing considers the newly announced Resources and Waste Strategy for England. It contains details about the focus within the strategy and how it is proposed to finance and resource the changes. Click here to read online.
• Bulky Waste Collection Services. This briefing considers how the service is financed, numbers of items collected, the use of welfare pricing policies and operational information such as the types of vehicles used to collect household bulky waste items. Click here to read online.
• Public Conveniences Survey. APSE has conducted a Public Conveniences survey to gain a clearer understanding of the current position and the approaches to provision that local authorities are undertaking. APSE created a short survey that was circulated to members UK wide and a total of 232 responses were received. Click here to read the responses.
• Holiday Activities and Food Programme 2019. The Department for Education are inviting organisations in England to bid for grant funding to take on the role of testing the coordination of free holiday provision for disadvantaged children during the 2019 summer holidays. The deadline for submissions is the 7 February 2019. Click here for more information.
• Committee on Fuel Poverty: 3rd Annual Report 2018. APSE Energy takes a look at the progress towards the Government’s 2015 fuel poverty strategy. Click here to read online.

APSE Parks Portal

APSE has recently launched the APSE Parks Portal; a free online resource for members who want to keep abreast of developments in parks and horticultural services. The portal includes information on relevant APSE briefings, state of the market reports, advisory groups, seminars, research and our role in the Parks Action Group. Click on this link to access the parks portal.

Upcoming seminars and advisory group dates

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

APSE Training courses

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