Programme

9.25am welcome from our conference speakers in the auditorium

• Stuart Nibloe, CIPFA Scotland Vice President
• Owen Mapley, CEO, CIPFA
• Laura Miller, Conference Host, Broadcaster and Journalist

10.00am Adapting to fiscal challenges: future-proofing Scotland's public services

Scotland’s public services face growing challenges in fiscal sustainability, which can disproportionately affect those with protected characteristics and lower incomes. With limited resources and increased demand, there is a need for innovative solutions to ensure that the most vulnerable in society aren’t left behind.

This session will explore how public organisations can address these issues by driving continuous improvement while ensuring that finance teams play a crucial role in making these improvements sustainable.

Speakers for this session include

• Councillor Katie Hagmann, Resources spokesperson, COSLA
• David Robertson, Chief Executive, Scottish Borders Council
• David Wallace, Chief Executive, Social Security Scotland

11.30am plenary sessions

Split plenary session one in the Great Hall

The essential sector: unlocking the potential

The charity sector is sometimes under-recognised, despite being a significant employer and a key partner in delivering public services. Its impact goes beyond economic contributions; it plays a vital role in fostering social cohesion and meeting the diverse needs of communities across Scotland. This session will highlight the importance of the sector and explore how it can work more effectively with the public sector to deliver shared outcomes.

Speakers for this session

The chair for this session will be Dr Wiliam Burns, Social Care Policy Advisor, CIPFA

• Annamaria De Felice, Communications Manager, JustRight Scotland
• Kirsten Hogg, Head of Policy and Research, Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)

Split plenary session two in the Auditorium

Unlocking public-private partnerships for Scotland’s transition to net zero

Scotland is leading the UK’s response to the two biggest crises of the 21st century, global climate change and nature or biodiversity loss, for a just transition to reach Net Zero. Scotland’s green industrial strategy, published in 2024, identifies key areas of strength and opportunity for Scotland to grow globally competitive industries in its transition to net zero and outlines enabling factors to accelerate investment and growth within this area. However, there remain significant challenges in unlocking the full potential of public-private and third sector partnerships to deliver this agenda. And this is what the panel will be discussing.

Speakers for this session

This session will be chaired by Amit Verma, Sustainability Policy Manager, CIPFA

• Michael Cook, Chief Executive Officer, Circular Communities Scotland
• David Butler, Team Leader in the Energy Transition team, Scottish Enterprise

Student Conference

This will be held in the New Library

The Challenge, Part One

This session will be lead by,

• Stuart Nibloe, CIPFA Scotland Vice President
• Jack O’Shea, Finance Manager, Glasgow City Council
• Shaun Purves, Finance Business Partner, Scottish Qualifications Authority.

CIPFA Students and newly qualified members will work together in this interactive session to discuss and to agree a solution to a potential career challenging situation.

Workshop one, Preventative spending

This will be held in the Cullen Suite

This session will be lead by,

• Dr Eleanor Roy, Health and Social Care Policy Manager, CIPFA
• Lewis Bennett, Economic Adviser, Scottish Government

As demand and financial pressures squeeze our public services, prevention is increasingly framed as a strategic priority to ensure the sustainability of our vital public services. From a public finance perspective, prevention involves investing earlier to provide support before potential issues arise, aiming to improve outcomes, support people to live well in their communities and reduce the likelihood/severity of demand for more reactive services. This session will provide key insights into work underway to explore preventative spending.

Workshop two, The importance of performance audit

This will be held in the Great Hall

This session will be lead by,

• Alison Cumming, Executive Director, Performance Audit and Best Value, Audit Scotland
• Khalid Hamid, International Director, CIPFA

In recent years, the importance of performance audit as a means of holding governments to account has been increasingly recognised. It is often said that what gets measured gets done, but even the best monitoring needs a feedback process where people are held accountable. Since any form of review is inherently a political process, this feedback depends on effective advocacy and a robust mandate to promote sound public financial management.

Performance (or value for money) auditors use rigorous scientific methods to find out how economically, efficiently and effectively money is spent by tracking inputs, activities, outputs and outcomes. Their discipline is an important part of public financial management and requires the application of advanced methodological and analytical skills in a complex – and changing – public sector environment. This session will look at performance auditing as an important part of the governance and accountability cycle and its potential for promoting the impact of public sector interventions on the lives of citizens.

Workshop three, Identifying the warning signs and supporting good governance

This will be held in the Sir John Crofton Room

This session will be lead by,

• Diana Melville, Governance Advisor, CIPFA

With the recent headline scandals that have highlighted poor governance and misuse of public funds, this session will explore the common themes and red flags that indicate the organisation is vulnerable to governance failure.  It will explore organisational responsibility for good ethical practices and the importance of a robust review of your governance arrangements.

1.40pm

AI in action, unlocking public sector value in Scotland

This will be held in the Auditorium

Unlocking artificial intelligence (AI) for the public good. With rising demand and tighter budgets, Scotland’s public servants are being asked to do more with less — all while protecting the most vulnerable. But what if AI could help?

In this interactive session hear from leaders in government, academia, and industry as they explore the evolving role of AI across the Scottish public sector. They confront the realities of deploying AI at scale, from ethical risks and governance to achieving transparency and building the right foundations for future success.

Speakers for this session

This session will be chaired by Florence Bastos, Public Finance Advisor, CIPFA

• Dr Tom Wilkinson, Chief Data Officer, Scottish Government
• Professor Amos Storkey, Professor School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
• Lucy Batley, Owner, Traction Industries

Student conference

The challenge, part two

This will be held in the New Library

This session will be lead by,

• Stuart Nibloe, CIPFA Scotland Vice President
• Jack O’Shea, Finance Manager, Glasgow City Council
• Shaun Purves, Finance Business Partner, Scottish Qualifications Authority

The groups will give feedback on their suggested approach to resolving the challenge issued in session one.

Sponsor workshop one facilitated by TechnologyOne

Reimagining finance, technology that delivers

This will be held in the Cullen Suite

This session will be lead by,

• Ian Cook, Industry Solutions Architect, TechnologyOne
• Emma Foy, Local Government Lead, TechnologyOne

Practical strategies for adopting and embedding new solutions.

Technology is reshaping finance faster than ever, bringing both opportunities and challenges. For organisations, the real question isn’t whether to modernise, but how to ensure technology adoption translates into measurable impact.

This session will explore practical strategies for making digital transformation in finance work. Through real-world examples, we’ll consider how integrated platforms can streamline forecasting, improve budget ownership across departments and simplify contract management.

We’ll also discuss what it takes to move from legacy systems to SaaS+ solutions—covering the planning, preparation and change management needed to unlock real value. Attendees will come away with insights on how to implement technology that supports compliance, centralises data, and delivers genuine operational improvements.

Sponsor workshop two facilitated by CIPFA

This will be held in the Sir John Crofton Room

This session will be lead by,

• Joanne Pitt, Senior Policy Manager, CIPFA
• David Fields, Employer Engagement Manager, CIPFA

Investing in yourself – how CIPFA can support your career journey and skills

We all know how busy life gets but it is important to take time out and consider your next professional steps.
This session will explore how CIPFA can support your career journey by reflecting on what skills you might need, introducing CIPFA competencies and showing you how to access support.

Sponsor workshop three facilitated by Improvement Service

This will be held in the Great Hall

This session will be lead by,

• Hannah Brown, Economy and Transformation Project Manager, Improvement Service

SOLACE/Improvement Service (IS) transformation programme

In this session, we will delve into the SOLACE/IS transformation programme, with a particular focus on the duties and powers workstream. This initiative is designed to provide local government leaders with a comprehensive understanding of the legislative landscape they operate in and to identify opportunities for service redesign and innovation.

We will explore the development of the statutory duties and powers portal, which aims to offer a single-entry point for accessing up-to-date legislative duties and powers relevant to local authorities. This portal will support transformation by enabling a shared understanding of the legislative landscape, identifying pain points and highlighting opportunities for service improvement.

The session will also discuss the collaborative design approach we are taking to validate pain points within the current legislative framework and to design new approaches to service delivery. This includes a focus on opportunities for collaboration and digital service delivery, and we will examine the implications of this work for CIPFA colleagues, particularly in terms of financial management and accountability.

Join us to gain valuable insights into the SOLACE/IS transformation programme and how the duties and powers workstream can offer tools designed to strengthen delivery and improve efficiency across local government.

3.25pm The Future of the Finance Professional

This will be held in the Auditorium

Iain Murray, Director of Public Financial Management, CIFPA

With rapid changes in leadership challenges, technology and a growing focus on sustainability, what does this mean for current and future finance professionals?

4.25pm The View from Holyrood

The Political Editor of Scotland’s foremost public and political magazine provides a personal perspective of the upcoming elections, Scotland’s finances how we manage them and the relationship our politicians have with public money.

Louise Wilson, Political Editor, Holyrood Magazine

Find out more about what the 2025 Public Finance Live Scotland has to offer

Exhibitors and Sponsors

Scotland Public Finance Awards

Speakers