CIPFA Scotland’s annual conference, Public Finance Live, will return on 26 September 2024 to the Technology & Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. The conference will be followed by the CIPFA Scotland Dinner and Awards to be held in Glasgow City Chambers.
Public Finance Live Scotland 2024
Date: 26 September 2024
Location: Technology & Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Booking and prices
Book your conference attendance only, starting from £199+ VAT (early bird rate)
Book your conference, dinner and awards, starting from £249+ VAT (early bird rate)
Book your dinner and awards only, starting from £85
Student booking and prices
Student conference attendance only booking, £130
Student conference, dinner and awards booking, £200
Please contact scotland@cipfa.org for student supported attendance.
This years Public Finance Live Scotland 2024 will be packed with keynote speakers, plenaries, panel debate and workshops. This one-day event will bring together leading public figures, public sector innovators, finance professionals, commentators, analysts and other sector experts, as well as CIPFA’s public sector-focussed commercial partners.
The conference is aimed at professionals working in public finance and accountancy and brings together attendees from across Scotland's public sector.
This years conference will be hosted at the Technology & Innovation Centre at the University of Strathclyde with the CIPFA Scotland Awards and Dinner taking place later on that day at Glasgow City Chambers.
If you are an exhibitor, please contact Fiona.Cantwell@cipfa.org.uk.
What the 2023 conference had to offer
Date: 14 September 2023
Location: Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh
The 2023 Public Finance Live was held in the beautiful surroundings of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The one-day conference had been preceded the night before with an awards dinner held at Edinburgh Castle where guests had gathered together to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of CIPFA members across the Scottish public sector.
The awards winners for 2023 were announced as follows:
- CIPFA Scotland Public Finance Team 2023 - The Scottish Exchequer’s Fiscal Framework Team
- CIPFA Scotland Emerging Talent 2023 – Jack O’Shea, Glasgow City Council
- CIPFA Scotland Finance Professional 2023 – Joseph McLachlan, East Ayrshire Council
This dedication and enthusiasm was very evident throughout the conference where delegates had the opportunity to spend time together listening to a range of excellent speakers. The first of which was Shona Robison Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance who provided a thorough and insightful session to a packed auditorium.
What was discussed
Finance was not the only topic on the agenda, and it was fantastic to see the range of health and wellbeing related sessions on the programme this year, with a focus on community-power, reducing inequalities, preventative action and ensuring services are sustainable – not only environmentally, but also socially and financially.
Richard McCallum, Director of HSC Finance at Scottish Government gave a long-term view of health and social care and some of the challenges involved, not only the financial perspective, but encompassing demographics and workforce, sustainability, digital and innovation and plans for future reform.
The session on Green Health Partnerships featured speakers from NatureScot, NHS Tayside and NHS Highland, bringing a fresh perspective to the topics of sustainability, integration and public health, concentrating on a more natural health service. These cross-sector partnerships are piloting a greener approach to health and care by joining up existing work to tackle health inequalities, championing investment in nature rich spaces to support health priorities, encouraging nature-based activity in health pathways and social prescribing and increasing the connection to nature to improve population health outcomes.
The workshop lead by the CIPFA Scottish Students network on Ethic in the work place resulted in good discussion and debate and it offered a fantastic opportunity for newer CIPFA members to experience conference and the benefits of meeting face to face.
Dr Abigail Taylor shared findings from the work that CIPFA and the University of Birmingham undertook on improving outcomes and opportunities in left-behind places. Last year, ten international cities were put under the microscope; the next leg of the journey involves transferring that learning to city regions in England. Our addressing regional inequalities webpage unpacks what levelling up looks like from an international perspective and provides evidence-based guidance to inform future policy.
The pace and quality of the session continued all day including Artificial Intelligence: A New Paradigm for Society a thoroughly thought-provoking session from Baillie Gifford to the wonderful presentation by Jenna Coull, Principal Economist for the RSPB.