We're very pleased to be hosting a (CPD accredited) half-day training event for in-house local authority lawyers in our shiny new Glasgow office on Thursday next week, covering four of the key legal issues facing Scotland's councils.
We have over 40 lawyers signed up from 19 of Scotland's 32 local authorities, but if you're an in-house local government lawyer it's not too late to sign up for a place.
You'll hear from external speakers as well as Brodies' own experts during the following sessions:
Data protection
Ken Macdonald, Assistant Commissioner(Scotland & Northern Ireland) at the Information Commissioner's Office, will discuss the compliance challenges arising from public authority data sharing initiatives, including under the health & social care integration agenda, as well as some key lessons for local authorities from the ICO's recent enforcement activity.
Regulation of Investigatory Powers(Scotland) Act
Les Turnbull, Surveillance Inspector for the Office of Surveillance Commissioners, will outline some of the key themes and lessons from recent OSC inspections of local authorities, including on potentially controversial issues such as the relationship between RIP(S)A and social media.
Community empowerment
Ian Turner, leader of the Scottish Government's Community Empowerment team, will explain the policy thinking that underpins some of the key aspects of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015,including the obligations placed on local authorities in respect of community planning, participation requests and participation in public decision making.
Procurement reform
This session will highlight some of the practical steps being taken by local authorities to get ready for the coming into force in April 2016 of the new Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations and the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014.
