With school summer holidays already underway for some, the “slow” season is upon us. It’s not really slow. But maybe it offers a little breathing space? I hope so. With the pattern of the year matching education we start to start to prepare for the new term in August and September.
Keep getting everything you can from your membership
Your events, training and resources
A few things for you today
- This month’s webinars (then they take a break for summer):
Wed-9-Jul | 13:00 to 14:00 | AI: real-world applications for transformation
Wed-16-Jul | 13:00 to 14:00 | Reimagining service desks with AI - Get the data you need on us this year. Get started using your 1 complimentary benchmarking module now.
- Your next course: How to be an effective coach
Tues-8 and 22-Jul | 09:30 to 12:30 | 1 point - Coming on Monday: more content in Connected Places
Economy and business; Education, skills and jobs; Travel and mobility - From In Our View: A survivor’s guide to LGR
- Limited budget? Get your external training request approved more easily by applying member-only offers on technical training.
- From the Institute of Local Government Studies: Rewiring local government for citizen engagement
Take care. I hope you can have a great weekend.
Best wishes,
Alex.
Your strategic DDaT support partner
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In Your Membership: Resource Hub
- AI@Socitm. Get to know and use AI.
- Case studies: Filter and find relevant case studies for what you’re doing or where you are. Is yours is missing? Let us know and send it over.
- Cyber@Socitm: Get and stay secure. Find and join your regional WARP.
Read more about our collective response (with iNetwork, the LGA and Solace) to the Home Office consultation on ransomware. Their aim is to introduce legislation to increase incident reporting and reduce payments to criminals
You will need a user account on socitm.net to access member-only resources. Let us know if need any support.
In your membership: accessibility and inclusion
Check your website’s Silktide Accessibility Score
Log in to find your personalised monthly report and advice by clicking the ‘Check your website’s accessibility score’ tile.
How’s your Digital Accessibility Maturity?
The DAMA is a comprehensive self-assessment. Hassell lnclusion send your score plus a report with next steps for how to improve your current position.
In your membership: Courses
Leadership
Empowering Women
- London | Mon-15 to Tues-16-Sep and Tue-25-Nov | 3 points
- Huntingdon | Thu-18 to Fri-19-Sep and Thu-20-Oct | 3 points
Place-based Leadership
- Birmingham | Mon-27 and Tue-28-Oct | 4 points
Top Talent
- Cardiff |Tues-9 to Wed-10-Sep and Mon-13 to Tue-14-Oct | 4 points
Core skills
- Fri-4 and Wed-16-Jul | 09:30 to 12:30 | Managing and motivating hybrid teams | 1 point
- Tues-8 and 22-Jul | 09:30 to 12:30 | How to be an effective coach | 1 point
- FULLY BOOKED Mon-22-Sep | 09:30 to 12:30 | Introduction to Emotional Intelligence | 1 point
- Tue-7-Oct | 09:30 to 12:30 | Equality, Diversity and Inclusion | 1 point
- Tue-4-Nov | 09:30 to 12:30 | Introduction to Emotional Intelligence | 1 point
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.
Make the most of your budget
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Better data improves everything
For 2025 only: complimentary use of 1 benchmarking module
Choose from: cost, delivery, performance or user skills.
Never benchmarked before? Know what you’d doing and want to get going?
Let Matthew Fraser know and he’ll support you as much or as little as you need.
Find out about what you can do and how: Benchmarking Services Help Centre.
In your membership: events
Wed-9-Jul | 13:00 to 14:00 | AI in the public sector: Real-world applications for transformation
GOSS will open by discussing the evolving role of AI in the public sector, (opportunities and the challenges to navigate). Then West Berkshire’s Phil Rumens (Digital Services Manager) will showcase how they’re harnessed AI to tackle its key digital transformation challenges.
Phil will share how AI has improved efficiency, enhanced citizen services, and streamlined operations, offering valuable lessons and inspiration for you.
- Wed-16-Jul
- FULLY BOOKED 09:30 to 11:00 | Empowering suppliers through LGR Register for the waiting list in case of any cancellations.
- 13:00 to 14:00 | 15mins saved, every hour: reimagining public sector service desks with AI
Hear how AI-powered service management can help you save up to 15 minutes per agent, every hour – boosting productivity, improving user satisfaction, and reducing operational strain.
- Fri-29-Aug | 09:00 to 15:00 | Socitm in Scotland in Glasgow
- Tue-14-Oct | 09:00 to 16:00 | Socitm in Wales in Cardiff
Missed one? Recordings of Socitm webinars are available in the Resource hub.
Events hosted by partners
- Mon-14-Jul
- 09:30 to 13:00 | Microsoft 365 Purview eDiscovery Course
- 15:00 to 17:00 | Derby City Council AI Transformation Showcase
Research and Policy Director Martin Ferguson is one of the guest speakers.
- Wed-16-Jul
- 11:00 to 12:00 | Is public sector data and infrastructure ready for AI?
- 17:00 to 19:00 | Dolenni Digidol: Leadership behind the change. Real stories of digital transformation [Cardiff]
- Thu-17-Jul | 11:00 to 12:00 | AI adds new dimension to cyber challenge
Panellists include Oxfordshire’s Principal Technical Architect Stewart Griffiths - Tue-22-Jul | 10:00 to 11:00 | Breach in a blink: How attackers bypass MFA and how you can stop them
- Thu-24-Jul | 16:0 to 17:00 | Accessibility user testing: making sure you build what users really want
- Wed-6-Aug | 10:00 to 12:00 | Microsoft Innovation and Collaboration Forum
Read about and join one (or more) of the subject specific subgroups. - Mon-11 to Fri-15-Aug | 13:00 to 17:00 | Course: Microsoft 365 Information Architecture
- Thu-21-Aug | 16:0 to 17:00 | Everything you wanted to know about accessibility (but didn’t know who to ask)
- Wed-10-Sep | 10:00 to 11:30 | Public sector buyers showcase: AI in legal
- Tue-14-Oct | 14:00 to 16:00 | Public sector buyers showcase: AI for eDisclosure and eDiscovery
- Thu-3 to Fri-14-Nov | The Future of Localism [St Andrews]
- Tue-18 to Wed-19-Nov | LGPN South [London]
Full of your Socitm community! CEO Nadira Hussain, Emeritus President Mark Lumley (Hounslow), VP Yogita Popat (Barnet), LSE Chair Rehana Ramesh (Hackney) and VP Kevin Taylor (Suffolk)
Membership extras
Place Insight: your own social progress index
Place Insight blends data into a single, simple-to-use platform. 56 datasets give you a multi-layered view of social progress where you are.
Your members-only offer
Gain cost-effective access to Place Insight as an add-on to your membership.
To find out more contact Head of operations Poppy Brummell.
Get more out of your training budget
Our academy is focused on core and leadership skills. But you and your team need to supplement that with more technical and process-specific learning.
Looking at doing this with the ITML Institute, Leadership Through Data, or QA? Use your membership to make your money go further.
Get your external training request approved more easily by applying member-only offers on technical training for:
- AWS, data, M365 apps
- Configuring and managing your M365 environment
- IT management and leadership
- Geospatial leadership
Get Liberty Spark with 30% off
Unlock smarter process improvement with a special members-only offer.
Members can now access Liberty Spark, Netcall’s powerful process mapping and improvement tool, with an exclusive 30% discount.
Plus, the first 10 councils to sign up will receive a 12-week process improvement training and mentoring programme to kick-start your transformation (at no additional cost).
Derby City Council showcases their journey to £7.5M in AI-driven savings
Mon-14-Jul | 14:00 to 16:00 | Teams
Derby City Council will reveal their award-winning AI transformation approach in an exclusive showcase on 14 July. Council leaders will demonstrate how they’re systematically capturing £7.5M in savings through their unified platform strategy.
The two-hour virtual event will feature live demonstrations and practical insights across multiple service areas, including social care, finance, and customer service.
Learn about Derby’s strategic roadmap, information governance framework, and direct feedback from both staff and residents.
Following last year’s successful showcase, which attracted 850 registrations, spaces for this in-depth session are limited.
Thank you for reading (or scrolling) this far! Just one more thing…
Some of next week’s London Data Week events are online, including:
Wed-9-July | 12:00 to 12:45 | Safeguarding Public Funds: How a Local Authority Is Using Data to Prevent Fraud and Reduce Error
Fri-11-Jul | 11:00 to 12:00 | Architectural Corporate Data Modelling at Camden
Photo by Eric Fraser on Unsplash