Agenda item

The Chairman invited Henry Butt (HB), Improvement Adviser, to introduce the report.

HB sought members feedback on how the Innovation Zone (IZ) had worked at the LGA Annual Conference in Harrogate, with a view to assisting planning for next year’s event at Bournemouth. Feedback received so far from delegates had been very positive. HB thanked IIB members who had helped deliver some of the sessions.

Members’ comments and questions:

·       Members felt that the IZ had been a great success and put on record their thanks to officers for delivering such a varied and useful programme. Many reported that they had been able to take learning from events back to their local authorities to implement changes. Using headphones to enable simultaneous events to take place was considered to be very successful although on occasions there weren’t enough to meet the demand.

·       The location of the IZ in the conference centre had been good in terms of attracting delegates and several members felt that this would not be the case at the Bournemouth conference centre. It was agreed that locating the IZ in the optimum position at Bournemouth would be critical to its success again.

Decision

Improvement & Innovation Board noted the comments made to be taken forward in planning the 2023 Innovation Zone.