17 May 2021SLCC and One Voice Wales (OVW) have held their 2021 joint event online. Having had to cancel the event in 2020, this year attracted a record number of 186 attendees.
Delegates were welcomed by Mark Galbraith, SLCC Wales Policy Liaison Officer, Linda Larter MBE FSLCC, SLCC President and Mike Theodoulou, OVW Chairman who all reflected on the huge challenges of the last year and how Covid-19 had shown the very best of what can be achieved in this sector. It demonstrated the value of local councils to their communities and raised their profile with key partners. All agreed that working together is best way to serve communities. Mark Galbraith thanked event sponsor Came & Company Local Council Insurance for their continued and generous support.
The day had a packed agenda and all the delegates were fully engaged from the start, filling the chat box with questions and comments.
SLCC Chief Executive, Rob Smith and OVW Chief Executive, Lyn Cadwallader, began with a look to the future and what will be coming forward in the next year. Rob Smith acknowledged what a pleasure it was to work with the Welsh Government on the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act. Lyn Cadwallader offered congratulations to the sector and stated that their ‘efforts had not gone unnoticed’. Concentrating on future challenges and opportunities, OVW is working closely with Welsh Government on digitalisation and the appointment of a dedicated Digital Officer who will work with communities.
The sessions that followed covered insurance, training and development, remuneration, registration of public sector owned land – and this was all before lunch! The afternoon session on effective governance and accountability set the tone for the rest of the day with delegates firing questions and comments in the chat, Mark Galbraith had his hands full keeping up! Welsh Government official, Kevin Griffiths presented a look at the new Local Government & Elections (Wales) Act and the introduction of a self-assessment process for community and town councils which also had some crossover with the next session which covered the use of the GPoC, led by Elisabeth Skinner MBE FSLCC. Work is continuing on producing more information and clarification on all the new guidelines and will be published in plenty of time to assist councils in complying with new legislation.
In closing, Mike Theodoulou thanked all the presenters for what he said had been an ‘interesting and informative event’ and also thanked Mark Galbraith and SLCC for arranging such a successful day.
Early indications from the delegate feedback survey suggests that the majority of delegates found the event relevant and beneficial with some commenting:
An informative session with relevant topics well worth attending.
Excellent training, very well run. many thanks
Everything was delivered with exceptional quality
The date for next year’s event has been confirmed as Wednesday 9 November 2022, and is likely to be held virtually as early feedback confirms the popularity of this format. If you missed out this year, look out for further updates as they are published on the SLCC website.
