Last week our Institute Director took part in an (early) International Women’s Day event in London: Women in tech in the public sector.
Sam shared her professional journey from a psychosocial studies degree to a 27-year career in local government. A key chapter in that story was Socitm’s Empowering Women course.
She talks and writes and about its impact better than we can: What did I learn from taking part in the Empowering Women programme?
Keep getting everything you can from your membership. You’re the most vital part of this community.
In your membership: content and people
- Watch: When everything’s connected: Managing incidents across complex council IT estates
- Join: a lunchtime webinar this week
- Make: LGR work for you. Join a workshop with CCS and the MHCLG Local Digital team: Wed-25-Mar | 09:30 to 11:00 | Teams
- Book: your next online core skills course
- Managing and motivating hybrid teams | Tue-28-Apr and Tue-12-May | 09:30 to 12:30 | Teams
- Did you miss this? Guidelines for elected members on the use of AI
Speak your mind at a focus group in April
Whether you’re a new or long-standing member, your insights are critical in helping shape the future of services, events, and resources. Can't join either of these dates? Email Yasmine.Hajji@socitm.net with your feedback.
Thu-6 Apr | 13:30 to 15:00 | Teams
Thu-23-Apr | 11:00 to 12:30 | Teams
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
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
Lunchtime webinars this week (13:00 to 14:00)
| Wednesday 11 March | From system sprawl to simplicity and savings: Newcastle’s low-Code approach to consolidation and rationalisation Joe Bradshaw (Solutions Delivery Lead) will talk you through their transformation journey of: identifying duplication; redesigning end‑to‑end services; and empowering teams to build solutions themselves. You’ll hear about tangible outcomes including savings, faster delivery and improved customer satisfaction. Friday 13 March | The top 10 patch management mistakes: How to achieve patching that just works Unpatched vulnerabilities remain a leading cause of security breaches. Go through the common patch management mistakes that prevent patching from working effectively. And discover how it can be made simple, fast, and reliable. |
President’s Conference 2026
Socitm at 40: From legacy to leadership
Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 June | London SW6 1UD
Book your place for bold thinking, practical insights and the space to reflect.
Derby Chief Exec. Paul Simpson and Cllr Dhindsa Hardyal will open this year’s conference talking about how they’ve created a strong political and executive alignment. Strong political and executive alignment creates clarity of purpose, accelerates decision-making and delivers better outcomes for people and communities. But it doesn’t just happen by itself.
Are your leaders aligned, or a work in progress?
Partners’ events and updates
March
- Wednesday 11 to Thursday 12 March | The MJ Future Forum 2026 [Tring]
- Thursday 12 March
- 09:30 to 17:00 | CfGS Annual Conference [Birmingham]
- 10:00 to 14:00 | Microsoft Surface and Snapdragon: Ready for Enterprise [London]
- Monday 16 to Friday 20 March | AI Public Sector Week
- Tuesday 17 March | 15:00 to 15:30 Ingredients of local authority success: What 208 councils reveal about AI readiness across the UK
- Wednesday 18 March | 10:00 to 16:15 | Public Sector Data & AI Summit 2026 [Edinburgh]
- Tuesday 24 March | 14:00 to 15:00 | Artificial Intelligence: Are you ready?
- Wednesday 25 March | 18:00 to 19:00 | AI and the future of public health [Cambridge]
- Thursday 26 March | 16:00 to 17:00 | Accessibility is going in the wrong direction where I work. What can I do?
April
- Wednesday 1 April | 10:00 to 12:00 | Microsoft Local Government Innovation and Collaboration Forum
- Wednesday 15 to Friday 17 April | 11:00 to 12:30 | Powering Digital Public Services
- Thursday 16 April | 08:45 to 17:30 | The GovTech Summit [London]
- Wednesday 22 April | 09:00 to 16:30 | Think AI for Government [London]
- Tuesday 28 to Wednesday 29 April | 08:00 to 17:45 | LGPN North [Manchester] Chaired by VP Alison Lincoln (Blackpool)
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:
- Fascinating insight from this week’s Cyber NI Conference 2026 in to the psychology of cyber criminals
- Answered the AI Landscape Survey? It’s all about better understanding uses of AI in Welsh public services
- ‘Less admin, more care’: Councils using AI to improve services for residents
- ICYMI Flexible voting pilots at Cambridge, Milton Keynes, North Hertfordshire, and Tunbridge Wells local elections in May 2026 will allow electors to vote at voting hubs on or prior to polling day.
Take care. I hope you can have a great weekend when it arrives.
Best wishes,
Alex.
