I don’t think there is any better way to begin this newsletter than to talk about the ADSO Conference held in Oxford on 23 & 24 November. Mark touched on it last week in his message. Thank you to everyone involved – delegates, sponsors, speakers, workshop & facilitated discussion presenters and the ADSO Board – and a particular shout out to Sarah Hawkins for her hard work and resilience in the planning and delivery of the two days. You are all used to dealing with meetings and events so I’m sure you can imagine the work that goes into a 2-day conference in a venue that we haven’t been to before.
Thanks to those who returned their evaluations. They were in the main very positive indeed. It’s always difficult to meet everyone’s expectations. One person’s like is another’s dislike, but there were many really good comments and suggestions, We are considering them all at the Board meeting on 15 December. They will help shape next years’ event. Generally, you felt that the venue and programme worked well (the vast majority rated the programme as excellent or good), although the main hall was considered too small. I agree with that. In a way we are the victims of our own success. We need to find a venue conveniently located in our price range and one that is big enough to cater for 250 people upwards. We had a good balance of speakers and workshops although we will consider suggestions about reformatting the morning of day two. Lunch was disappointing to some and I apologise to those who were not catered for by the hotel as well as they should have been. The hotel had all the information it required and they should have done better.
It was great to see so many delegates attending conference for the first time (over 30% of those who attended). I hope this will be the first of many for them all. I was particularly pleased to see so many of our younger members in attendance. They are the future and I wish them every success in their careers. Democratic Services is such a great profession to be in and it was pleasing to hear the Chief Executives and others say how highly they valued us and their praise for the quality of the questions asked of them. One of the Chief Executives complimented us afterwards on the engagement of the delegates and added how impressed he was with ADSO as an organisation. They did present us with challenges too – for example to push the boundaries of our role and become more corporate and proactive. That’s not easy I know with current workloads and budget cuts, but it’s a challenge we need to address head on. We are already thinking of how ADSO can support you in that.
My congratulations again to all the award winners. You will be hearing from them in due course. Congratulations also to those who were shortlisted. That is an achievement in itself.
And a final thank you to all who celebrated my birthday during the dinner and awards. It was a very enjoyable (if not embarrassing) surprise.
On to non-conference matters now……
Director of Communications vacancy
Many of you will know that Joanna Boaler has stood down as Director of Communications. Those of you who were at conference could not have missed the fact that Joanna is expecting her third child early in the new year. Conference paid tribute to Joanna and wished her well. Joanna has been an absolute rock on the ADSO Board, not only significantly improving the communications function within ADSO but also playing a key role in developing the association. I relied on her greatly for sound advice and support. We will all miss her, but I know she will remain involved in ADSO from the ‘back benches’ so to speak.
That therefore leaves a vacancy as highlighted in Mark Tower’s Democracy Direct newsletter last week. The role profile plus details of how to apply have been posted on the ADSO website and on social media. The closing date for applications is 4pm on Thursday 28th December.
We strive to make ADSO as open and diverse as possible both in the services we offer and the opportunities we give to our members to participate in our activities. We therefore welcome applications from all sections of the community.
Training
Another round of the much sought after ADSO training programme gets underway in the new year. The courses are listed on the ADSO website and the first tranche are now available to book. Please do don’t delay as places fill up very quickly.
ADSO Webinar this Thursday 11am-12pm – An Introduction to Community Power – Grace Pollard and Stephanie Riches, New Local
You can still register to join our last webinar of the year which promises to be an interesting look at community power by clicking on the link below:
Register here
Scrutiny protocol publication
Members might be interested in the Local Government Chronicle article on the publication by the government of a scrutiny protocol for English institutions with devolved powers. The article can be accessed on the link below:
Government publishes scrutiny protocol for English institutions with devolved powers
Have a great week everyone and keep warm!
John Austin, ADSO Chair