Government transformation chief Alexis Cleveland will be speaking at a one day conference organised by Socitm Insight on the future of local government transformation, to be held in London on 17 January 2008.

Raising the game for transformation of local public services: managing efficiency, avoidable contact and customer satisfaction has been organised in the wake of the Spending Review, the 3% efficiency target, the Service Transformation Agreement, and the new National Indicators for local government - including NI 14, on reducing ‘avoidable contact’ and NI 179, the value for money indicator - developments that have given new impetus to the local transformation agenda.

Other speakers at the event include Chris Wormald, who is leading on local service transformation for Communities and Local Government (CLG) and is their representative on the Local Government Delivery Council; and Glyn Evans, head of transformation at Birmingham and also a member of the LGDC.  Jos Creese, head of ICT at Hampshire County Council and a member of the CIO Council will be in the chair.

The event will also feature presentations from three local authority speakers around their experiences of developing and implementing customer access and value for money strategies. These speakers are Jackie Hudson from the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, fresh from collecting the IT Excellence Award 2007 for LBHF’s ‘customer first’ initiative; David Wilde, CIO, Head of Information and Customer Services Waltham Forest Council on the council’s converged access to services strategy which is integrating technology and customer services; and Brigitte Giles, Director of Resource and Strategy at East Riding of Yorkshire, on implementing a customer access strategy across all channels.

The event will provide an opportunity for Socitm members and Socitm Insight subscribers to:

• hear from top government transformation policy and decision-makers
• feedback views on the latest developments impacting local service transformation
• share the experience of councils well advanced with achieving service transformation leading to efficiency and customer service benefits
• discuss and debate with colleagues the new National Indicators including the concepts of ‘avoidable contact’ and ‘value for money’ and the practicalities of measuring them.

The charge for the conference is £245 + VAT for delegates from Socitm Insight subscriber organisations, £295 + VAT for non-subscribers who are Socitm members and £345 for all other delegates. Bookings and further details are available at www.socitm.gov.uk/socitm/Events/transformation+of+local+public+services.htm

Further information:

Vicky Sargent or Peter Coates, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 0845 094 5641 vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk or peter.coates@socitm.gov.uk

Martin Greenwood, Socitm Insight Programme Manager
Tel: 01926 498703 martin.greenwood@socitm.gov.uk