09.15 – Registration & Breakfast

09.30 – Chairs opening remarks
Tim Jones, Socitm Chair

Our Chair, Tim Jones, Service Director at Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, introduces the day’s agenda and welcomes delegates to Wales’ premier event for digital leaders in the public sector.

09.45 Keynote
Paul Orders, CEO, Cardiff Council and Neil Prior, Independent Consultant, Pembrokeshire Council

Cardiff is growing more quickly than any British city apart from London, and more quickly than the rest of Wales combined. While this is great for people and the economy, it creates challenges. Pollution, congestion and waste all increase in a thriving urban environment and demands on services grow as the population does. In this session, Cardiff Council CEO, Paul Orders, outlines his vision for a digitally connected place delivering accessible and responsive services for its people and communities. He also explains the geographical and societal idiosyncrasies that have helped shape his vision and drive his strategic aims. Paul is joined by Neil Prior, Independent Councillor at Pembrokeshire County Council and the Welsh Local Government Association’s deputy spokesperson for digital and innovation. Neil is a passionate advocate of empowering people to reach their potential through innovation and collaboration. He is dedicated to the development of people-centric, place-based services and will be giving practical advice and counsel as to how best accelerate the progress of individuals and teams attempting to lead change in local government.

10.15 – Workshop 1
Isabelle Bignall, CDO, Cardiff Council, Huw McKee, Head of IT and Digital Transformation, Conwy Council and Socitm’s Vice President and Faith La Grange, Director Local and Regional Government, Microsoft

In 2018, Isabelle Bignall was appointed as chief digital officer at Cardiff City Council. This was a brand-new role created in response to a strategic aim of delivering ‘digital by default’ services at a time of exponential urban growth. From the outset, Isabelle focused on developing an end-to-end digitisation of council services, beyond merely “bolting on” digital to existing processes. Isabelle has worked closely with Microsoft to design and transform services that directly impact positively upon people’s outcomes. Together with Microsoft’s Faith la Grange, Isabelle’s interactive workshop facilitates a practical exploration of the tangible possibilities and implications of implementing innovations such as smart cities, using emerging technology such as AI to deliver service improvement and focusing on technology for the over-85s.

11.05 – Elevator pitches

Our partners will talk about the impact of their products and services in improving outcomes for citizens and businesses.

11.15 – Break

11.45 – Workshop 2
May-N Leow, Head of Local Digital Collaboration, MHCLG, Helen Wall, National Lead, GDS, Simon Renault, Project Manager, Welsh Government

May-N Leow is Head of local digital collaboration unit for MHCLG. Appointed in July last year, she has a wealth of experience in both central and local government. Passionate about the pivotal importance of collaboration in the design and transformation of successful public services, May-N gives examples of cross-transferable best practice that can be readily tailored to meet the unique requirements of urban and rural communities across the differing geographical areas of Wales. Together with Helen Wall, GDS and Welsh Government’s Simon Renault, this workshop examines how to realise the potential of collaboration. For example, councils everywhere want to develop their relationship with the public, harnessing the potential benefits of coproduction. This is one of the hardest forms of collaboration, but if it succeeds, it can also be one of the most fruitful outcomes. To do it effectively, councils need to understand why the public would want to work with their council. Part of the process of collaboration is about sharing what works- and what doesn’t. Trialling new ideas is a risky exercise. Innovative, creative initiatives won’t always work but understanding what doesn’t work is essential to the process of driving improvement. This session illustrates how this philosophy is still applicable when applied to distinctly different environments, such as England and Wales.

12.50 – Lunch

An opportunity to reflect upon the morning’s agenda while networking with peers and sector leaders.

13.50 – Workshop 3
Sheenagh Rees, Head of HR, NPT, Lynne Doyle, Training and Development Manager, NPT, Nadira Hussain, Director of Leadership Development and Research, Socitm

Neath Port Talbot Council’s Learning, training and development manager, Lynne Doyle, is joined by Head of HR, Sheenagh Rees, to share their experience of undertaking a detailed digital literacy programme designed to promote and develop skills across the council’s workforce. As well as sharing their successes, they outline the challenges they face and detail the innovative techniques the authority’s transformation board has implemented to overcome them. Not least, its strategic approach has been to engage leaders in the programme heavily. This is part of its core commitment to leadership development which the council considers vital. Following on from this, Socitm’s Nadira Hussain introduces our current Leadership academy Top Talent cohort. Top Talent helps participants accelerate their career progress by harnessing and honing their leadership skills. As part of the programme, the group present their findings in response to a challenge set by IP Performance: present a business case for securing the technology being used to facilitate flexible working, enabling workers to perform their roles and responsibilities regardless of location or device.

14.40 – Keynote
Kelly Watts, Head of Customer Services & Transformation, Powys County Council

Kelly Watts, Acting Head of Customer Services & Transformation, Powys County Council explains the authority’s commitment to using technology to transform its customer journey. The council started from the premise that users now increasingly expect access services 24/7. It recognised a need to radically transform to keep pace with the digital disruption and customer expectations while finding new ways to add value. Demographic trends, rurality, financial pressures and a need to improve performance in key service areas are key drivers for change withing the council and the effective use of digital tools and technologies is already mitigating some of these pressures. Through the establishment of a customer centred digital solutions workstream, the authority has ensured processes and interactions are designed around its customers and what they need.

14.55 – Keynote
Lee Davis, Head of Prevention & Support Services, Herefordshire, Martin Ferguson, Director of Research, Socitm, Sean Jenkins, Principle Innovation Fellow, ATiC

This workshop session will focus specifically on assistive technologies and how they can deliver preventative interventions. The context will be set with a summary of Socitm’s research priorities and findings on the promotion and development of wellbeing in the devolved nations. Lee Davis will share experience from the Herefordshire pilot as a good example of assistive technologies in action. The Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre at Trinity Saint David University of Wales (ATiC) will provide an overview of their research and lead the workshop.

15.25 – Keynote
Mark Adams-Wright, Marketing Director, Socitm Advisory

15.45 – Chair’s Closing Remarks
Tim Jones, Socitm Chair

15.55 – Finish