Practitioners’ Conference 2025 Agenda

Delivery of Martyn’s Law
Helen Watson, SLCC Senior Advisor and Mentor Co-Ordinator & Helen Ball FSLCC, Town Clerk to Shrewsbury Town Council
Kenilworth

As the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill moves towards enactment, this session will look at the practicalities of complying with legislation, what kind of documentation will be required and how might those plans be tested.

Getting Positive Outcomes From Procurement: How to Attract The Right Contractors and Set Up a Process to Give Best Value and Good Outputs
Tom Skyes, Extended Studio Co-founder, Design Council Expert
Kenilworth

In this session we’ll look at examples of how to set up positive procurement exercises.  From sourcing local suppliers to how structuring briefs, from different ways of scoring quality and cost components to managing evaluation panels, this will be a practical session based around good examples.

Back-to-Basics of VAT
Richard Strevens, Principal Indirect Taxes Consultant, PSTAX
Kenilworth

In this introductory session, you will look at: the basis of a local council’s VAT recovery powers, what limits need to be considered and when they apply, and when does a council need to register for VAT

Accuracy Matters: Right First Time Every Time
Greg Fradd, Director & Head of Training for the Accuracy People
Kenilworth

In this session, you will look at: What we mean by ‘mistakes’, What they cost you, Why we make mistakes, and what you can do about it.

Building Ways to Play
Dr Amanda Gummer, Chair of The Association of Play Industries (API)
Hamlet

Playgrounds have a crucial role to play in community cohesion and are an important part of the resources that children need government to provide to be able to thrive. The affordance is in the design and the API’s members continually innovate to improve accessibility and sustainability. When commissioning play spaces it’s about more than just the design: Compliance with safety standards, quality of installation, accessibility and community buy in as well as ongoing maintenance requirements are all important considerations. This talk will help councils understand the above and be better equipped to commission and maintain playgrounds that really benefit the community.

Cyber Security Awareness
Liz Pattinson, Director, Pattinson & Milburn Training Limited
Othello

Cyber security awareness covers several important topics aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of cybersecutrity measures within organisations. This presentation will aim to provide information concerning the terminology associated with cybersecurity and give delegates some suggested acctions to enable them to protect their organisations including a template for an incident response plan.

How to Dream Big and Inspire Others
Bernie Hollywood
Kenilworth

Big dreams inspire big changes, mobilise resources, create opportunity, remove obstacles and empower us. One of Bernie’s many big dream’s recently at the tender age of 64 was to row solo across the Atlantic for his ‘Boat of Hope’ Mental Health Campaign was to help support young people around the world to open up a conversation on how they felt inside their hearts and minds through the use of the creative arts and adventure. To do this he needed to invest over four years of this time, raise over £120,000 for the campaign and recruit an army of people within the creative arts, armed services and the education sector to make this happen. Bernie’s talk will explain why you should dream big, and D.R.E.A.M., a 5-step plan to achieve your big dream. Bernie explores why big dreams are important to us all and how you can make sure you turn your dreams into a reality at any age of your life: Bernie will truly captivate you with his stories of his remarkable life of giving, adventure and supporting those in need. You will leave both inspired to have a big dream, and with the tools to make it happen. So what’s your ‘Big Dream’ and what are you doing to make it happen?