As you read this, we’re finalising your annual conference agenda for publication next week. It’ll be live but with even more to come. It’s not looking back at the past 40 years, it’s all about shaping what’s next. What will local public services look like for our children and grandchildren who’ll be providing and using them?
Keep getting everything you can from your membership. You’re the most vital part of this community.
In your membership: content and people
- Watch: Future-proofing infrastructure: strategic connectivity for smarter public services
- Listen: to Madeline Hoskin talking about LGR in North Yorkshire. And remind yourself of her blog post (2025’s most popular) If I knew then, what I know now
- Join: a lunchtime webinar in February
- Wed-11-Feb | Grant management within digital transformation: From isolated programmes to a unified council capability [with Suffolk]
- Fri-13 Feb | Protect the business: achieve CAF from within
- Book: your next online core skills course
- Tue-17-Feb | 09:30 to 12:30 | Introduction to Emotional Intelligence
- Book: your first 2026 in-person leadership course.
Both start in March and end during President’s Conference in June. So, you get a course and a delegate’s pass in one go.- Top Talent | Starting on Tue-3 and Wed-4-Mar | London
6 points | Non-members cost: £2,074 - Empowering Women | Starting on Tue-17 and Wed-18-Mar | London
6 points | Non-members cost: £2,074
- Top Talent | Starting on Tue-3 and Wed-4-Mar | London
- Did you miss this?
- Browse: Public Sector Digital Trends 2026
- Read: Maximising social value in procurement: Measurement and evaluation for buyers
- Register: for the AI Skills Boost for everyone everywhere. A directory of learning materials to help you build your AI skills.
Browse your members-only resource hub.
Share what’s working for you
If you were at an in-person event, that thing you’ve been working on (or have already done) might have been exactly what the person next to you needed to fix a problem or project they’re working on. The next best virtual alternative is sharing that thing in a case study or blog post.
Your experiences and perspectives matter, so please share them with members.
In your membership: Courses
Registration is open for 2026 courses.
Bring your favourite course in-house
Which course have enjoyed the most? With slight adjustment, could it meet the requirements of your whole team or organisation?
We can personalise training for you and deliver it in house.
Please just ask about it and how much it might cost on hello@socitm.net
Registering for training
Read your guide to using training points. Log in for the current number of available points. Don’t have enough or you’ve run out? Let us know.
Things happen. If you can’t make the date of your training course let us know ASAP and we’ll get you onto the next suitable one available. And your training points will transfer with you.
Please note: non-attendance without letting us know will mean training points getting deducted from your organisation’s annual total.
In your membership: events
Next week:
| Monday 9 February | 14:00 to 16:00 | Roundtable: Improving Access to Python and R | Teams | Host: Matthew Fraser Tell us how you’re using (or not) advanced data processing tools such as Python or R. Your perspective is crucial in exploring how IT and data teams can collaborate effectively to streamline processes. To join email matthew.fraser@socitm.net. Wednesday 11 February | 13:00 to 14:00 | Grant management within digital transformation. From isolated programmes to a shared council capability | Teams | Hosts: Submit (with Suffolk County Council) Often overlooked in digital transformation programmes, grant management is one of the clearest opportunities for you to move from fragmented, manual processes to a unified, data-driven digital capability. Friday 13 February | 13:00 to 14:00 | Protect the business – Achieve CAF from within | Teams | Hosts: Nemstar A practical clinic to give you a clear, repeatable approach to improving cyber resilience using internal capability, not external dependency. |
More lunchtime webinars from 13:00 to 14:00
- Wednesday 18 February | Autonomous IT: secure, compliant and cost-effective
- Friday 20 February | AI is friend-shaped. Guard rails for your brain (not the machine)
- Wednesday 25 February | From AI trial to council-wide confidence. How Renfrewshire transformed their customer services
- Friday 27 February | Transform your services without the transformation headache
- Friday 6 March | Reverse mentoring: a fresh perspective on learning
- Friday 13 March | The top 10 patch management mistakes. How to achieve patching that just works
President’s Conference 2026
Socitm at 40: From legacy to leadership
Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 June | London SW6 1UD
2026 is the time to take the lessons, relationships, and progress of the past 4 decades and use them to improve what works now. And more significantly, build resilience and adaptability for the future. Whatever it holds for us.
Partners’ events and updates
February
- Monday 9 February | 09:30 to 13:30 | Workshop: AI in the workplace [Cardiff]
- Tuesday 10 February
- Thursday 12 February
- 09:00 to 16:30 | HETT Leaders’ Summit [Leeds]
- 10:30 to 12:00 | Cyber security in the public sector
- Thursday 19 February | 09:30 to 13:30 | Workshop: AI in the workplace [Cardiff]
- Tuesday 24 February
- 09:00 to 16:30 | Cyber Security 2026 [Glasgow]
- 09:30 to 13:30 | Workshop: AI in the workplace [Cardiff]
- Thursday 26 February | 16:00 to 17:00 | Document Accessibility in 2026
March
- Tuesday 3 March
- 09:00 to 16:00 | CyberNI Conference 2026 [Belfast]
- 09:30 to 16:00 | ISfL Annual Conference 2026 [London]
- Thursday 5 March
- 09:00 to 16:30 | LGC Summit: LGR Special [London]
- 09:30 to 13:30 | Workshop: AI in the workplace [Cardiff]
- Tuesday 17 March | 09:00 to 16:00 | Think Women in Digital Government [London]
- Wednesday 18 March | 10:00 to 16:15 | Public Sector Data & AI Summit 2026 [Edinburgh]
- Thursday 26 March | 16:00 to 17:00 | Accessibility is going in the wrong direction where I work. What can I do?
It’s a procurement heavy issue of Government Business
After last week’s publication of Maximising social value in procurement (measurement and evaluation for buyers) there’s plenty of extra content here to support your and your colleagues:
- Spending decisions must be evidence-based
- LGR: navigating change through strategic procurement
- Modernising public transport through smarter, integrated technology
- Stop uncertainty from causing decision paralysis in your procurement strategy in 2026
- Turning the tide on financial misinformation
Thank you for reading (or scrolling) this far! Just one more thing…
A few of the things I’ve been looking at (and sharing with colleagues) this week:
- The government has given its backing to Barnsley as the UK’s first “tech town”
- What sort of ‘data nation’ does the UK want to be?
- Microsoft’s TechHer for Government registration Spring ’26
- 100 practical AI prompts designed for real workplace challenges.
Take care. I hope you can have a great weekend when it arrives.
Best wishes,
Alex.
Start creating positive, lasting changes in the place you live and work
Photo by Mike van den Bos on Unsplash
