Kerslake and Clancy head stellar LATIF line up

Lord Bob Kerslake, former head of the UK civil service, John Clancy, leader of Birmingham City Council, and James Bevan, CIO of CCLA, head the line up of high profile speakers for this year’s Room151 annual conference.

Also among the speakers are J.P. Morgan’s Stephanie Flanders, formerly BBC economics editor, Prof Tony Travers of the London School of Economics and Chris Naylor, chief executive of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.

The conference takes place at the London Stock Exchange on 14 September and sees two events run side by side: The Local Authority Treasurers Investment Forum (LATIF) and the FD’s Summit.

Lord Kerslake , chair of trustees at the Centre for Public Scrutiny, will be keynote speaker at LATIF closing a day in which guests will discuss alternative sources of income in a low yield environment; investment and social value; and why treasury matters in the public sector.

Stephanie Flanders joins him on the LATIF roster as will Faisal Rahman, OBE, managing director of Fair Finance.

Birmingham’s council leader, John Clancy, will join a panel at the FD’s Summit exploring development funding beyond the Public Works Loan Board.

He will be joined by Chris Naylor, of Barking and Dagenham, as well as Fiona Miller, head of pensions at Cumbria County Council and also chair of the LGPS cross-pool infrastructure group.

The summit will also host a debate on whether councils are building a credit bubble through direct investments in commercial property. Among the guest speakers will be Bhupinder Chana, head of finance at Leeds City Council; Andrew Burns the next CIPFA president and director of finance and resources at Staffordshire County Council; Claire Morris of Guildford Borough Council; and Terry Collier, deputy chief executive at Spelthorne Borough Council, the authority that bought property from BP worth £350m.

The summit will also see James Rolfe, director of finance at Enfield Council, describe his authority’s involvement in the energy sector, while Danny Mather of Warrington Borough Council will take delegates through his council’s investment in a new challenger bank. Places for local government treasurers and CFOs are available, free of charge, on a first come first served basis.

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