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President's Update

This blog page features updates from ADEPT's President, Ann Carruthers.

Latest post

President update 6th January - latest news from ADEPT

Hello everyone, Happy New Year! As we step into 2025, I'm really optimistic about the potential ahead of us. This new year brings important work and exciting opportunities for ADEPT and our members. Despite the challenges, our collaborative spirit and commitment to creating better places remains stronger than ever.

I recently attended the inaugural MHCLG Local Government Funding Reform Strategic Group meeting to ensure ADEPT’s voice is heard. The discussions highlighted the delicate balance required in funding distribution, weighing 'need' against incentives and addressing the unique challenges faced by rural and urban areas. 

I also had a fascinating conversation with the National Infrastructure Commission, who are researching the characteristics of effective infrastructure project pipelines, and with Dan Corry who is leading the Defra review on whether the inherited regulatory landscape is fit for purpose and supporting economic growth while protecting the environment.

I was delighted to attend the annual CIHT luncheon, where I had the pleasure of sitting next to CIHT president, Glen Lyons, and my good friend Alison Irvine, CEO of Transport Scotland.

In December, we were pleased to see the government take a decisive step forward on devolution with the release of the English Devolution White Paper. This clear intent to deliver reorganisation of local governance presents a strategic opportunity to address long standing issues facing local government.

As we head into 2025, there’s plenty to look forward to, and I’m excited to share some of the opportunities ahead for ADEPT and our members. For instance, the closing date for our Leadership Development Programme is quickly approaching, so don’t miss your chance to apply or encourage your team to do so before the deadline of 17th January. 

Speaking of opportunities, don’t forget that the ADEPT Live Labs 2 Expo booking website is open, so please apply for your place.

Later this month, we’ll also be launching our innovative Gen Z recruitment campaign, a creative response to workforce challenges in local authorities. Watch this space!

Finally, we are now accepting submissions to the annual ADEPT President's Awards. These awards offer a fantastic opportunity to showcase the incredible work being done by our members and partners. I’d like to encourage you to take a moment to think about your work. What might feel like ‘business as usual’ to you could, in fact, represent a pioneering approach or an exceptional achievement when seen through someone else’s eyes. This is your chance to celebrate the incredible efforts transforming communities across the country – find out more.

Here's to another year of impactful, meaningful work for our communities and places. 

For more updates on ADEPT's latest news, publications, and the work of our boards and groups, visit our website: www.adeptnet.org.uk

More posts

  • President update: 29th April 2022

    As you may know, ADEPT recently had some fantastic news. The government announced the go-ahead for Live Labs 2 with £30m funding from the Department for Transport. The new expanded programme, Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads will run for three years and include projects from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Focused on the decarbonisation of transport infrastructure, we will take the same approach to applications using a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style, but with funding available to successful applicants to support both development and procurement stages.

    Read more >

  • President update: 1st April 2022

    After two long years of COVID-19, local authorities are again dealing with the multiple crises that are facing our communities and affecting our ability to deliver services. Amongst the Leadership Team, we have had long conversations about the impacts of rising fuel costs, the Homes for Ukraine scheme, the ongoing lack of school transport drivers, hyper-inflation driving up costs on delivery of council services, and most urgently, on local communities. 

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  • President update: 28th February 2022

    While much of the world is rightly focused on the situation in Ukraine, closer to home we have come to the end of all formal Covid-19 restrictions. This is not the same as being the end of the pandemic, so we will all be discovering what living with coronavirus means. Of course, for local authorities, this also marks the end of Covid-related funding support, so many of our colleagues in public health will be focused now only on the most vulnerable in our communities.

    Read more >

  • President update: 1st February 2022

    Welcome to the first President update in 2022 – slightly later than usual and while Paula’s on leave, this time coming from our Chief Executive Officer, Hannah Bartram.

    Read more >

  • President update: 17th December 2021

    As we head into the Christmas break, the rapid spread of Omicron leaves many of us with a sense of weary familiarity. Fears of last minute changes to Christmas plans at home and impacts on services at work remind us of how much we continue to live with uncertainty.

    Read more >

  • President update: 29th November 2021

    This month, the focus has been very firmly on climate change (and not just the ADEPT Autumn Conference!), with widespread agreement that this is the ‘decade of action’ and we need to work together, urgently, to find solutions.

    COP26 had a varied response - many positive pledges and commitments were made, including the announcement to end deforestation, agreements to bring forward green innovation in agriculture, promoting more sustainable land management practices, and the focus on rewiring national and international finance systems for net zero. 

    Read more >

  • President update: 28th October 2021

    It feels like déjà vu, and not for the first time, that as Covid rates climb, the government is resisting calls to implement even the lightest of restrictions. Local authorities are once again in the position of seeing rates rise in their local areas, but without that vital national backing that brings weight to any precautions they might want to put in place.

    Read more >

  • President update: 30th September 2021

    The news is full of the effects of HGV driver shortages across the UK, something that many local authorities have felt for some time. Our waste services have been particularly hit by shortages, and as we look ahead to winter, we are all concerned with how gritting services and their essential role in safety and accident prevention might be impacted. Some authorities are also feeling the impact on passenger transport, particularly school bus provision.

    Read more >

  • President update: 15th September 2021

    As I write, the government has just published its Covid-19 response plan for the autumn and winter. Plan A focuses on encouraging further vaccine take up and booster doses for priority groups 1-9, introducing vaccines for 12-15 year olds and a renewed emphasis on test and trace and self-isolation for those testing positive. Plan B leaves the way open to a return to mask wearing in enclosed spaces, working from home and vaccine passports for larger gatherings should there be a surge in cases and increased pressure on the NHS.

    Read more >

  • President update: 31st August 2021

    I hope you’ve all managed to get a good break over the last few weeks. With September here and schools about to return, it feels like we’re about to face many familiar pressures over the autumn. Although case numbers are rising, we are fortunate that the vaccinations are doing their job and we’re not seeing a parallel rise in hospitalisations or deaths. However, in many areas, we are seeing numbers that are putting additional pressures on the NHS and colleagues across public health, adult and children’s services.

    Read more >

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