Connections: March 2013

In the past COSLA has primarily focussed its communication on Leaders and Conveners. COSLA Connections marks a break away from this and is part of a wider engagement strategy that we hope will allow for much more effective communication with all of Scotland’s 1,223 elected members.

These are very interesting times in COSLA, local government and indeed the wider public sector.

I know from speaking with many of you that there is a strong feeling that the forthcoming referendum provides local government with an important opportunity that we must not fail to grasp.

We say more about how the local government sector might begin this task later, and one of the objectives of COSLA Connections will be to capture that on-going process and reflect on the big issues of the day.

It is for those reasons that this first issue of Connections focuses on three main issues – our new, exciting and bold vision for local government in Scotland, which Council Leaders endorsed at their February meeting. Secondly we give you an insight into how COSLA is set up, how we structure the teams and our main areas of work, and thirdly we touch on the COSLA/Improvement Service Annual Conference which takes place in St Andrews on 7th and 8th March.

I appreciate this first issue is therefore quite lengthy, and future editions will be shorter. A PDF version of Connections is available to download for viewing offline.

COSLA Connections will endeavour to ensure that sensible, clear and consistent messages are communicated with you, our membership, and I very much hope that you enjoy this first issue. As always, I am keen to hear from you about how we can improve. If you have any comments, please get in touch at connections@cosla.gov.uk

Cllr David O’Neill
COSLA President