publicsectorWith 30% spending cuts across the Public Sector, major change programmes will go way beyond 2010, with speakers at Symposium Events’ HR in the Public Sector Forum predicting that change and restructuring in the Public Sector will take much longer than a year.

More than 60 delegates at the fourth annual ‘HR in the Public Sector Conference’ heard cases studies on how a mixture of public sector organisations will be tackling spending cuts and improving public sector efficiency. Topics covered included absence management, leadership development and employee engagement.

Keith Davies, Director of Efficiency Studies at the National Audit Office gave the keynote address at the forum. He stressed the importance of working directly with, listening to the concerns of, and incentivising front line staff in order to be able to successfully develop strategies to improve efficiencies.

Speakers also included Karen Bridges, Head of Business Change Development at Birmingham City Council; Colin Miller, Reward Manager for Kent County Council; Anne Copeland, HR Director at Department for Children, Schools & Families; Lucasta Grayson, Head of HR and Development of Crawley Borough Council; Jaine Clarke, National Apprenticeship Director – Business Development at the National Apprenticeship Service; Patricia Brewerton, Head of Leadership and Management Development with the DWP; Deborah Clarke, Director of HR, for London Borough of Tower Hamlets and Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust , Sian Thomas, Director at NHS Employers; Alan Duffell, Director of Workforce and Learning for Sandwell Mental Health & Social Care, NHS Foundation Trust; Corinne Mills, Head of Human Resources at The Learning Trust and Dean Shoesmith the Vice President of the Public Sector People Managers Association chair the forum.

Those who missed the conference can purchase the slide presentations and documents from Symposium Events – Tel 020 7231 5100