Our popular local government conference returned in October. We brought together a mix of Trowers' and external experts to offer practical tips and solutions to some of the most pressing problems the sector faces.
Over 2 days in October we ran six bitesize sessions, focussing on making great places and service delivery with themes covering regeneration, the climate emergency, housing, all things procurement and an update on the public subsidy regime.
You can rewatch these sessions below.
Day 2 - Service Delivery
Session 1 - All things Procurement
With the new Act on the horizon, we focused on practical issues to ensure readiness, as well as considering social value.
Procurement Bill update:
- Where are we in the legislative process and what could change
- What practical things should we be doing now
Anatomy of a procurement claim:
- What to expect if a claim is lodged
- How to mitigate the risk of a challenge in the first place
The Good Law Project litigation:
- Litigation as a policy tool
- A new dawn for framework agreements?
Speakers:
- Rebecca Rees, Partner, Trowers & Hamlins
- Charlotte Clayson, Partner, Trowers & Hamlins
- Al Collier, Director of Procurement, Norfolk County Council
Session 2 Subsidy Control – making it work to support economic and placed based initiatives and policies
Our Subsidy Control session was a Q&A format and we welcomed written questions in advance of the session. The emphasis was on economic and placed based subsidy initiatives – including assessing subsidy compliance for levelling-up and other government funding.
Speakers:
- Paul McDermott, Partner, Trowers & Hamlins
- Victoria Thornton, Senior Associate, Trowers & Hamlins
- Julian Jarrett, Associate, Trowers & Hamlins
- Stuart Brown, Associate, Trowers & Hamlins
Session 3 - Commercialisation/Service delivery
In the final session of our conference, we looked at:
- Emerging trends in service delivery;
- Shared services;
- In-house service delivery;
- Is there a place for outsourcing;
- Recession proofing services; and
- PFI variation and exit.
Speakers:
- Lucy Doran, Partner, Trowers & Hamlins
- Louis Sebastian, Senior Associate, Trowers & Hamlins
