Core Cities Group
Connect is retained by the Core Cities Group (comprising the cities of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds) to manage their party conference requirements...
Connect worked with Leeds City Council on the Core Cities Summit 2005 - Cities Mean Business - which took place in July 2005. The 2005 Summit focused on the role that business can play in urban renaissance.
Chaired by Adam Boulton, Sky's Political Editor the Summit heard speeches from Rt. Hon David Miliband MP, Minister for Communities and the Rt Hon. Hilary Benn MP, and included discussion and debate on issues concerning 'Creating City Renaissance'; Creating Skills - Creating Futures; Creating Innovation and New Ideas and Connectivity - Getting Cities to Work. The conference featured an extensive exhibition and attracted a significant amount of revenue in sponsorship and was attended by 450 delegates. As always the Summit was preceded by the Core Cities Annual VIP Dinner and delegate reception.
Connect also worked with Newcastle City Council to organise the 2003 Core Cities Summit in Newcastle- Cities taking the lead. The Summit celebrated the leading role our cities play in driving the forward the urban renaissance.
Cities taking the lead built on the success of the Urban Summit and highlighted each Core City's commitment to the goal of developing a distinctive European identity as a means to deliver strong regional economies and national competitiveness. It detailed the significant work undertaken by the Joint Working Group with Government, and culminated in the launch of the Core Cities substantive report. The Summit showcased the huge potential our cities have in harnessing and opening-up greater opportunities for all individuals, communities and regions.
Connect advised on the conference and conference format, programme and contents. We identified and sourced the speakers who included: the Rt Hon John Prescott MP, Deputy Prime-Minister; David Lunts, then ODPM, Matthew Taylor, then IPPR and Nick Clarke, BBC World at One. Five symposia were held on: Cities taking the lead in the English Regions; Knowledge Driven Economy; Transport; Europe and Sport and Culture. Speakers included Ivan Lewis MP, DFES; Loyd Grossman; Tony Grayling, IPPR; Stephen Clarke, SRA; Mike Fawcett, Department of Transport and Peter Hewitt, Arts Council. Five City Tours were held on the first day together with a reception at the Baltic and dinner at St James Park which were held in the evening. Connect secured sponsorship for the dinner from the Manchester Airport Group.
In 2002, Connect worked with Manchester City Council to organise the 2002 Core Cities Summit in Manchester. Cities at the Centrefocused on the critical role that Britain's major cities, outside London, play in boosting the competitiveness of their regions and, in turn, the competitiveness of the national economy as a whole. The Summit took place at a time when the Core Cities were beginning to consolidate their work to enrich the urban policy debate. The 2002 Core Cities Summit provided an important opportunity for all stakeholders to participate in and contribute to this debate.
Department for Communities and Local Government,
Neighbourhood Renewal Unit
Our work with the NRU, focusing on building stronger and safer communities, involves managing a programme of circa. 12 events per annum ranging from national two-day conferences for over 500 people, to smaller conferences catering for 100-180 people and a series of regional tours and seminars ranging from 30 to 80 people. One of the larger event we organised in 2005 was the National Wardens' Conference which proved a huge success and provided the opportunity for the Warden practitioners and related stakeholders to come together to share best practice and learn from each others experiences.Over 500 delegates attended the two day event which included a combination of interactive plenary and workshop sessions.
Eurocities 2006 Conference and AGM
The 2006 EUROCITIES Conference and AGM, 'Knowledge Cities: Villes du Futur', provided a platform to discuss how cities can benefit from the opportunities presented by the knowledge economy, as well as finding solutions to the challenges it creates. It enabled the participants to examine what it means to be a knowledge city and explore some of the key issues we face around competitiveness, sustainability and social inclusion... [Read More]
The conference'took place against the background of an increasing recognition of the significant role that cities play in the delivery of European Union and Member State policy objectives and at a time when Member governments are beginning to implement their Lisbon National Reform Programmes.
The conference examined what it really meant to create a 'Knowledge' and how cities could work to convert intellectual activity and creativity into economic activity in a way that includes all citizens.
It demonstrated how cities could lead the way in improving the economic competitiveness, environmental sustainability and social cohesion of Europe and would provide an opportunity for the leaders of Europe's major cities to share, in dialogue with EU decision-makers and other stakeholders, knowledge, experience and ideas on how to successfully develop the knowledge economy at the local level. Above all, the conference'aimed'to inspire delegates.
The conference took place between 22nd and 25th November 2006 in Manchester. For a full run down of the programme and all other information, please look at the Eurocities website www.eurocities2006.com. The keynote speaker at this conference was Rt Hon Ruth Kelly MP, Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government along with a host of other speakers including'Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council and President of EUROCITIES, Catherine Parmentier, Chief Executive Officer, EUROCITIES, Dr Cathy Garner, Chief Executive of Manchester: Knowledge Capital, Danuta H'bner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Alexander Sakkers, Mayor of Eindhoven, Caroline Jenner, Chief Executive of Ja-Ye Europe, Michel Delebarre, President of the Committee of the Regions.Managers in Partnership
Inaugural conference a huge success... Managers in Partnership (MiP), the new trade union for health service managers, held their first ever annual conference - Managing Our NHS: Which Way now? - in November 2007... [Read More]
The conference provided MiP members with their first opportunity to gather nationally to share good practice, network and hear first hand from leading individuals across the healthcare system in the UK about the future development of health policy and management of health in the UK.
The conference focused very much on participation and engagement and enabled all delegates to have their say on key questions and topics through the use of interactive voting.
Connect helped to devise the format and programme for the day which included Interactive Panel Sessions, Speed Networking and a Well Being Zone where delegates were able to obtain information on personal health related issues and have various mini-health checks carried out by health professionals.
The format and content of the conference was highly acclaimed with evaluation of the conference showing that 99% of delegates agreeing that the conference was one of the best they had ever attended.
Migration Alliance
Demonstrating the positive impact migration has had on British life has never been so urgent. Bringing together like-minded organisations to play an active role in communicating the contribution made to our society and economy by migrants can only help to inform the public debate on migration... [Read More]
On the 18th July 2006 Connect organised a successful debate for the Migration Alliance. In particular, this important policy conference highlighted the contribution migrant workers make to the UK economy and sought to dispel the myths about migration. The debate focused on the role that migrant workers play in the labour market and asked what more could be done to secure and protect migrant workers employment rights. It also looked at the role that migrants play in our communities and addressed how we can generate greater social cohesion and understanding whilst debating and discussing issues such as the impact of migration on public policies such as housing.
The keynote speaker was Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC, Minister of State, Constitutional Affairs and it was chaired by Peter Kellner, Chairman of YouGov, and Michael White, The Guardian. Other speakers included, Stephen Alambritis, Federation of Small Businesses, Steve Barnett, NHS Employers, Keith Best, Immigration Advisory Service, Dr Alessandra Buonfino, The Young Foundation, John Cruddas MP, Ram Gidoomal, The Employability Forum, Gloria Mills MBE, UNISON, Dr Danny Sriskandarajah, IPPR and Sukhvinder Stubbs, Barrow Cadbury Trust.
Tribune
Celebrating 70 years of political thought... Connect worked with Tribune, the leading left wing publication, to organise a commemorative reception to mark the 70th anniversary of the publication. [Read More]
The reception was attended by Tribune staff, contributors, past and present editors, friends and supporters, and some key figures from the Labour movement including guest of honour, former Labour Party Leader Michael Foot, and the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP.
The evening's celebrations were also helped along by a sterling performance from Stephen Pound MP who acted as head auctioneer for the evening. Auction items were donated by people from across the Labour movement and included posters of several historically significant Tribune front covers; a parliamentary dinner with Lord Neil Kinnock; a signed bottle of whisky from Rt. Hon Gordon Brown MP and one of Tony Benn's pipes...
UNISON [2]
Connect has been instrumental in assisting UNISON with establishing the Positively Public Forum coalition which brought together various organisations to take forward the debate on the future of the public services in Britain and to look at the role of PPP and PFI in service delivery... [Read More]
Secretary of State for Education and Skills and Building a World Class Health Service, with a keynote speech from Rt. Hon Alan Milburn MP, Secretary of State for Health.
Other speakers at the seminars included Alan Rusbridger, Editor, The Guardian; Matthew Taylor, Director, IPPR; Michael Jacobs, Director, The Fabian Society; Dave Prentis, General Secretary, UNISON; Bharti Patel, former Director, Low Pay Unit; Prof. John Benington, Director, Warwick Institute of Governance &
Public Management; Conor Ryan, former Government Adviser and Margaret Mythen, Chief Executive, The 'New Health Network'. The World Class Public Services series became an important forum for policy makers in the UK. (2001-2003). Connect are currently working with UNSION on the re-launch of the Positively Public Campaign (November 2005 - present).
