CCN Conference 2018 Review

CCN Conference 2018 was another excellent event, with over 200 delegates hearing speeches and sessions from a host of high-profile speakers in Surrey. Below, you can watch a highlights video from this year’s event.

 

At the event CCN launched our new campaign, ‘A Fairer Future for Counties‘, with the network releasing new research on the increasing costs of caring for adults with severe learning disabilities. Read more on that here.

CCN also released new research on the rising costs of delivering home to school transport for pupils with special educational needs – with councils’ expenditure rising by 30% in just four years. Read our research here.

The campaign seeks to ensure that local government receives additional resources in next year’s Spending Review, and that county authorities receive a fairer share of funding from the conclusion of the fairer funding review.

Click here to download CCN chairman Cllr Paul Carter’s conference opening speech, which launched the campaign.

The Monday morning began with Cllr Paul Carter’s opening speech, and he rounded off the session by saying: “We must have sustainable, sufficient, and fair funding. We are here to improve public services. Empower us.”

Delegates then heard from PwC on their emerging findings from their forthcoming report, produced for CCN, before a session looking towards the social care green paper featuring Paul Burstow of the Social Care Institute for Excellence, David Pearson of Nottinghamshire County Council, and Steven Phillips of Newton Europe. View slides from the session here.

The Communities Secretary delivered his speech mid-morning, which you can read here. He said last month’s Budget was ‘a Budget for counties’ and said 2019 will be a ‘turning point’. Delegates then heard from Will Tanner, from the thinktank Onward, and Anthony May, chief executive of Nottinghamshire County Council, on counties as ‘strategic authorities’ and how to reboot devolution. Following that, Yvette Stanley explained Ofsted’s latest inspection framework and how children’s services inspections are finding positive trajectories nationally. Download the slides from her session here.

In the evening, the political sessions took place – featuring the Liberal Democrats’ Wera Hobhouse MP, Labour’s Andrew Gwynne MP, and the Local Government Association’s Lord Porter.

The first session of the following day saw the Guardian’s Patrick Butler, BBC’s Alison Holt, and the Financial Times’s Andy Bounds explain local government’s perception in the national media, and how delegates can work with counties to secure the right coverage.

This was followed by Rishi Sunak MP’s keynote speech, where he had warm words for counties. You can read his speech here.

Delegates then heard from Homes England’s chairman Sir Edward Lister who told counties: “come and talk to us” to work together on the housebuilding agenda. This was followed by an economy session, with input from the National Infrastructure Commission, Cllr Kevin Bentley from the LGA’s Brexit taskforce, and Simon Ridley, director general at the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.

Last but not least: CCN Conference 2018 was rounded off by a session on prevention in the social care/public health agendas, with sessions from Phil Swann of Shared Intelligence and Jim McManus, vice-president of the Association of Directors of Public Health. Download slides from that session here.

Below, watch footage from each session at the event, in chronological order.

Cllr Paul Carter – Chairman’s Opening Speech

Adult Social Care: Green Paper and Integration

  • Paul Burstow, chairman of the Social Care Institute for Excellence
  • David Pearson, corporate director, adult social care and health, Nottinghamshire County Council
  • Steven Phillips, senior partner, Newton Europe

Secretary of State James Brokenshire: Keynote Speech

Strategic Authorities: The Role of Counties

  • Chaired by Cllr Martin Hill
  • Will Tanner, director, Onward
  • Anthony May, chief executive, Nottinghamshire County Council

Fairer Futures: Delivering Outcomes for Children and Young People

  • Chaired by Cllr Carl Les
  • Yvette Stanley, national director for social care, Ofsted

Liberal Democrat View: Wera Hobhouse MP

Labour View: Andrew Gwynne MP

Perception in the Media: Challenging the Westminster Bubble

  • Chaired by Baroness Jane Scott
  • Alison Holt, social affairs correspondent, BBC
  • Patrick Butler, social policy editor, The Guardian
  • Andy Bounds, North of England correspondent, Financial Times

Local Government Finance: Minister Rishi Sunak MP

Scaling Up: The County Role in Housing

  • Chaired by Cllr Philip Atkins
  • Sir Edward Lister, chairman, Homes England

Re-balancing the Economy: Growing Counties

  • Chaired by Cllr Simon Henig
  • Professor Sadie Morgan, commissioner, National Infrastructure Commission
  • Cllr Kevin Bentley, chairman, Local Government Association Brexit Taskforce
  • Simon Ridley, director general, decentralisation and growth, Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government

The Prevention Agenda

  • Chaired by Cllr David Williams
  • Phil Swann, executive chair, Shared Intelligence
  • Professor Jim McManus, director of public health, Hertfordshire County Council and vice-president of the Association of Directors of Public Health