Leeds Agenda 2025
9:15 - 9:40
Registration
Start your day by signing in and picking up your exclusive Collaboration Pack. This pack includes all the materials you’ll need for an engaging day of learning and networking.
9:40 - 9:50
Editors' Welcome & Table Introductions
Following a welcome and overview of the day’s agenda, from our editors, you will have a chance to meet the people on your table, paving the way for productive discussions throughout the day.
Speakers:
Jessica Bowie, and Suzannah Brecknell, Editors-In-Chief, Civil Service World
Table introductions will be supported by a dedicated facilitator on each table
9:50 - 10:00
Keynote Speech: Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire
10:00 - 10:10
Sponsor Keynote Speech
10:10 - 11:00
Panel Session: Collaborative Leadership
In this panel discussion, senior leaders across local and central government will reflect on how they make collaboration a priority within their roles and offer practical insights into the part that leaders play in driving partnership working across the North of England.
Speakers:
Beth Russell, Second Permanent Secretary, HM Treasury
Katharine Hammond, Chief Executive, South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority,
Dr Lorraine O’Donnell, Chief Executive, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council,
Ed Whiting, Chief Executive, Leeds City Council
11:00 - 11:15
Coffee Break
Recharge with a coffee break and take the opportunity to network with fellow attendees.
11:15 - 12:15
Skills Session: Managing Conflicting Views and Making Ethical Decisions
Crisis response often requires cross-sector collaboration, but it also requires working with high uncertainty and evolving evidence. In these circumstances, the fast pace of policy making sometimes means that ethical interrogation is reduced to surface level considerations. This not only risks reinforcing or deepening existing inequalities but can also undermine effective partnership working.
To address this, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, in partnership with an Ethics & Expertise research project and the Faculty of Public Health is developing a Rapid Ethical Assessment tool. This tool is designed to help policymakers quickly identify and navigate key ethical considerations and trade-offs in urgent decision-making contexts. In this hands-on workshop, we will provide a brief introduction to the tool before inviting participants to trial it on potential real-world crisis scenarios. This will build participants understanding of how to conduct ethical analysis at pace and engage key stakeholders in time-sensitive or crisis situations.
Speaker:
Dr Marija Antanavičiūtė, Seconded Policy and Foresight Fellow
Nuffield Council on Bioethics
12:15 - 13:00
Panel Session: Collaborating to Drive Investment and Innovation
In this panel discussion you will hear about how cross-sector collaboration is driving investment and innovation to build a stronger health system for the future. With specific insights into the challenges and opportunities presented by place-based collaboration, and tips on how to approach working with different groups across a community.
Speakers:
Zandra Moore, Chief Executive, Zygens
Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive, Health Innovation Yorkshire and Humber
Fiona Bolam, Interim Chief Officer, Economy and Skills, Leeds City Council
13:00 - 14:00
Lunch and Speed Networking
Enjoy a delicious lunch while mingling with other conference participants. Engage with other attendees at the conference through our facilitated speed networking option.
14:00 - 14:50
Skills Session: Collaboration - World Café
In this World Café session, you will explore different aspects of and barriers to collaboration, with each table exploring how to address challenges or develop opportunities for partnership working. Topics will include: Collaboration in a crisis; The role of data in collaboration; breaking organisational siloes
14:50 - 15:05
Coffee Break
Recharge with a coffee break and take the opportunity to network with fellow attendees.
15:05- 15:25
Fireside Chat: Test, Learn and Grow
The session offers an opportunity to delve into the Test, Learn and Grow project currently underway in Sheffield. You’ll hear practical insights from this pioneering approach to public service reform, explore how a “test and learn” mindset can aid collaboration, and hear what you can do to support a system-wide improvement through local experimentation, evidence and collaboration.
Nick Kimber, Director of Public Service Reform at the Cabinet Office and Kate Josephs, Chief Executive of Sheffield City Council, will discuss how central and local government are working together to design and test innovative service delivery models. They’ll share practical insights on what’s worked, what hasn’t and how learning from local experimentation can inform national policy and systemwide improvement.
Join us to explore how a “test and learn” mindset can drive meaningful reform and improve outcomes across the public sector.
Speakers:
Nick Kimber, Director of Public Service Reform, Cabinet Office
Kate Josephs, Chief Executive, Sheffield City Council
15:25- 16:05
Panel Session: Collaborative Success Stories - Reflections on Homes for Ukraine in the North
Dive deep into the challenges and triumphs of collaborative efforts in the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. This session will explore how different sectors came together, and transitioned from crisis response to long-term strategy, and learn how to apply these insights to your own work.
Speakers:
Paul Morrison, Chief Executive, Planning Inspectorate
David Brown, Head of Migration Yorkshire
Lizzie Clifford, Deputy Director for Strategy, Governance and Communications: Resettlement Directorate, Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government
Iryna Terlecky, Board member of the Association of Ukrainians
16:05 - 16:10
Closing Remarks
16:10 - 16:45
Networking
End the day with a networking session. Join your colleagues from across the public sector to compare notes on the day’s discussions, share insights, and get to know our guest speakers and discussion hosts better. This is your chance to forge new connections and explore potential collaborations.
Facilitating active learning and reflective discussions
Throughout the day, delegates will be supported to develop actionable insights by highly-experienced facilitators from our sister company Dods Training. These colleagues will guide reflective conversations on each table as well as leading a focused policy challenge discussion during our skills sessions - helping delegates explore key challenges, facilitating knowledge exchange, and fostering collaborative innovation across government and industry.
Register to attend