• Details of 11 parallel sessions now available
• Gartner joins plenary speaker line up
• IT Excellence and Innovate 08 winners to be showcased

Socitm has published the latest programme updates for Socitm 2008: Serving the Instant Access Society (12-14 October at the Celtic Manor, Newport), including details of eleven parallel sessions available on Monday 14 October.

Delegates will be able to attend up to three parallel sessions, choosing from:

• Information assurance and the Data Handling Review, presented by Harvey Mattinson, Lead Consultant, CESG (Communications-Electronics Security Group)
• Green ICT: we all want to save the planet, but how best? presented by Terry Street, Socitm Consulting
• Service orientated architecture - a necessity to tackle 'avoidable contact'? presented by Peter Coates, Programme Manager, Office of the Chief Executive, Sunderland City Council
• Mobility, instant access and the digital citizen, presented by Alex Butler, Director, Transformational Strategy, Central Office of Information
• Better customer access and service, better taxpayer value - avoidable contact and all that, presented by Martin Greenwood, Programme manager, Socitm Insight
• The LA Diet - lean thinking for local government, presented by Doug Maclean, Managing Consultant, Socitm Consulting
• Business continuity: recovery from a near disaster! presented by Sue Holloway, Head of Strategic Planning, Local Government & Social Housing Northgate Public Services
• Government Connect update, presented by Simon Norbury, Head of Architecture and Business Design, Government Connect
• Web 2.0: here to stay and making an impact, presented by Janet Worth, Executive Director of Corporate Services Greater London Authority and Stephen Hilton, Programme Manager, Connecting Bristol
• The Public Office taster, presented by Ruth Kennedy, The Public Office
• Government IT Profession and the Aspire Partnership, presented by Mary Wintershausen and Mark Wheatley, Socitm Consulting

Other programme additions, since the conference programme was first published in July, include Mike Lafford of Gartner, who will set out Key CIO Issues in 2007/08 based on results from the latest survey of over 3,500 Gartner CIO members globally, and a piece of theatre, Citizen Sally – Power to the People! This is described as ‘a theatrical foray’ into the world of unified communications and its effect on healthcare, police, central & local government, education and……….Sally - a one woman force of nature………she has no idea what a converged network is, but she knows good service when she sees it. And she wants it now!

One of the conference highlights will be presentations from winning entries in the Local Government IT Excellence Awards. These will showcase IT projects that have enabled improved service and better value from public services in three categories: service transformation, shared services and mobile and flexible working.

The conference will also hear from the winner of Innovate 08, a Microsoft initiative supported by Socitm to showcase and develop ground-breaking ideas for tackling some of the biggest issues facing councils today, including social inclusion, place-shaping, community engagement and environment.

Delegates can attend the event as full delegates, including overnight accommodation on 12 & 13 October, all meals and the gala dinner, or as day delegates on Monday and/or Tuesday. The full delegate fee for non-Socitm members is £650 or £610 for 2nd and subsequent delegates from a single organisation. Socitm delegate rates – for organisations with one or more Socitm members - are £550 or £510. Day fees are £205 for Socitm delegates and £240 for others.  A partner package is also available. Booking is exclusively online at www.socitm.gov.uk

Conference details including pdf copies of the publicity leaflet and parallel sessions planner can be found at: http://www.socitm.gov.uk/socitm/Events/Annual+Conference/Socitm+2008/default.htm

Further Information:

Vicky Sargent or Rob Adams, Socitm Press Office
Tel: 0845 094 5641 email: vicky.sargent@socitm.gov.uk or rob.adams@socitm.gov.uk