Holyrood Local Government Supplement / 29 September 2017

A Holyrood magazine supplement on local government, in advance of the 2017 Convention of Scottish Local Authorities conference. Includes an interview with new COSLA president Alison Evison, and original comment from Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing, Professor James Mitchell, and Colin Mair of the Improvement Service.

4 OVERVIEW

The quiet earthquake in Scotland’s local authorities could be about to rock residents to their foundations

5 PARTNER COMMENT: FOSTER CARE ASSOCIATES SCOTLAND

Creating ‘Forever Families’ in Permanent Foster Care

8 MINISTER’S COMMENT

Kevin Stewart, Minister for Local Government and Housing, on future challenges and opportunities

9 PARTNER COMMENT: HEALTHCARE IMPROVEMENT SCOTLAND

Listening and understanding are the first steps to making care better

10 INTERVIEW: ALISON EVISON

Holyrood sits down with the new COSLA president ahead of conference

14 PARTNER COMMENT: DIGITAL SCOTLAND SUPERFAST BROADBAND

Helping Scotland to go faster

15 COMMENT: JAMES MITCHELL

Understanding centralisation, the future of local government

17 Q&A:

Six new leaders on their ambitions for the next five years

18 PARTNER COMMENT: UNISON

Continued cuts mean structural changes to services

19 PARTNER COMMENT: CARER’S TRUST SCOTLAND

Preparing for implementation of the Carers (Scotland) Act

22 COMMENT: COLIN MAIR

Local government faces the same financial challenges it did three years ago

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