Learning from yesterday, leading for tomorrow

Thursday 12th March – Millennium Point, Birmingham

CfGS’s annual conference in 2026 will be a special one – as we look back on 25 years of overview and scrutiny, and the local government act of 2000. We’ll use this moment to reflect on how far we’ve come – and ask how the next five, 10, and 25 years will look for local democracy.

We’ll tackle the urgent questions for our sector, while providing lots of sessions and content on delivering excellence in governance and scrutiny.

At-a-glance timetable

• 08.30 to 09.30: Registration
• 09.30 to 10.00: Opening plenary – Setting the context
• 10.20 to 11.50: Morning sessions (choose one, see below)
• 12.00 to 13.00: Lunch – plus networking
• 13.00 to 14.30: Question time with panel
• 14.50 to 16.20: Afternoon sessions (choose one, see below)
• 16.30 to 17.00: Closing plenary – wrapping up

How the day will work

The conference will be organised across three key themes:

• Place governance: How we govern across places, not just within institutions?
• Systems of assurance: How councils build cultures of shared responsibility for governance risk and resilience?
• Future democracy: How democracy adapts and endures in the face of social, digital and ecological change?

In the morning, sessions we’ll ask delegates to stretch themselves and think about an emerging future for governance and scrutiny. While, in the afternoon, the sessions will focus much more on applying that thinking, and ambition, to the here and now.

In detail: timeline of the day

08.30 to 09.30: Registration

• Arrival, refreshments and networking.

09.30 to 10.00

• Opening plenary – Setting the context
  General opening and welcome – Mel Stevens, CfGS Chief Executive and Catherine Howe, CfGS Chair of Trustees

10.20 to 11.50
Morning sessions

• Reimagining place governance – and what it means for accountability and scrutiny
  Theme: Place governance
  Hosted by Ed Hammond
  With Cath Buckley, Tabitha Baker and Dave Burn
• Culture eats governance for breakfast: an exploration of decision making
  Theme: Systems of assurance
  Workshop hosted by Camilla de Bernhardt Lane and Ian Parry
  With Natalie Rotherham and Hamida Ali
• Scrutiny: the next generation, to boldly go where scrutiny has never gone before
  Theme: Future democracy
  Hosted by Mel Stevens and Sarah Fenn
  With Dave McKenna

12.00 to 13.00
Lunch – plus networking

• An opportunity to connect with colleagues, speakers and fellow delegates.

13.00 to 14.30
Question time panel

• Hosted by Mel Stevens and Sarah Fenn
  Panellists: Tabitha Baker, Catherine Howe, Iain Murray, Hamida Ali, Sam Smith, Yvonne Murphy, Catherine Mangan
  Main auditorium

14.50 to 16.20
Afternoon sessions

• Building blocks of neighbourhood governance. A shared understanding and what this means in practice.
  Theme: Place governance
  Workshop hosted by Mel Stevens and Ed Hammond
  With Dawn Plimmer, Claire Ward, Sam Smith and Dave Burn
• Finding assurance in health – and building a hierarchy of resilience
  Theme: Systems of assurance
  Workshop hosted by Camilla de Bernhardt Lane and Cath Buckley
  With Natalie Rotherham and Paul Cutler
• Am I being unreasonable: the human side of politics
  Workshop hosted by Sarah Fenn and Ian Parry
  With Dave McKenna

16.30 to 17.00
Closing plenary – wrapping up

Reflections on the day and closing remarks.

Thank you to our sponsors

We’re enormously grateful to our sponsors, the Local Government Association and Anthony Collins, who have helped to make this conference possible.

Tickets

Tickets are available for CfGS Annual Conference 2026. Booking and invoice information available via the conference page.

Find further details on:

• Travel information and venue access, timing of registration on our conference page
• More about the people delivering sessions and keynote on our speakers biography page