Public Chairs’ Forum
2024-25 member programme
A way forward for public body leadership
Your 2024/25 member programme will explore a way forward for public body leadership and how we can collectively, create a more powerful voice for public body leadership in the context of complexity and uncertainty.
Our programme of events and activities takes its steer from our most recent insight report ‘Public leadership: navigating uncharted waters’.
We seek to bring members together to address the barriers to leadership success that are perceived to be systemic across public bodies, including the increasing scale and complexity of public sector challenges, too much focus on bureaucracy, and a lack of investment in self. We also seek to surface opportunities and conversations that will help to overcome these barriers, including nurturing key leadership attributes for success, which have been identified in our research.
By inviting others across sectoral and industry boundaries, to consult, debate and innovate with us, we aim to establish a shared vision of what effective leadership looks like and to enable success for public body leaders.
I hope PCF will continue to be a valuable resource for you, as a public body chair or non-executive director.
I encourage you to participate from wherever you might be based, there’s plenty of opportunities to get involved according to your own interests and needs. I am particularly looking forward to attending the quarterly seminars, time with some of the brightest and best in public service.
Helen Pitcher OBE
Chair, Criminal Cases Review Commission and Judicial Appointments Commission
Programme explained
Hybrid
ACE-PCF seminars
An exclusive opportunity to join some of the most prominent contributors to UK public life, to consider the defining strategic issues of public service today.
In 2024-25, the Association of Chief Executives (ACE) and Public Chairs’ Forum (PCF) will host a joint seminar series exploring ‘A way forward for public body leadership’.
Held quarterly at the Institute for Government, London, with streaming access offered for those who wish to join remotely, these seminars will provide an exclusive opportunity for ACE and PCF members to join in discussions with some of the most prominent contributors to UK public service, including Ministers of State, Permanent Secretaries, and chairs of public and select committees.
Members can expect to join high profile guest speakers from across Westminster and Whitehall, culminating with the joint ACE – PCF Annual Conference in early 2025.
In-person
New public chair masterclasses
A masterclass series for new public body chairs, designed and delivered by highly experienced public chairs and experts.
The first year as chair of a public body can be particularly demanding, even for the most experienced chair. Chairs frequently reflect on the difficulty of navigating a set of new responsibilities, building relationships with sponsoring departments, and establishing as an effective leader.
Research by Nous Group – PCF ‘Chair in Government’ 2022, based on insights from a number of public body chairs, describes the role of the public body chair as highly unusual, with post-holders benefiting from peer support, especially in the first year in post.
Leveraging from this research, PCF member insight, and expertise from the Institute for Government, this masterclasses series provides a forum for new chairs to meet peers, discuss challenges and familiarise quickly with their new role and responsibilities.
Click here to register your interest for the 2025 cohort of this programme.
Breakfast at IfG
Informal member networking, occurring bi-annually at PCF's home, the Institute for Government.
New this year, Breakfast at the IfG provides an informal opportunity for PCF members to meet with other public body leaders in a safe, private setting.
Hosted by a member of the PCF Management Committee, sessions are held bi-annually at the Institute for Government, London.
The most useful training session I have ever had.
New public chair masterclass 2022 cohort participant
Online
Chairs’ challenge
Quarterly peer support sessions, available exclusively for public chairs to discuss pressing leadership issues in a private setting.
Chairs’ Challenge is a quarterly online event series available exclusively to public body chairs, providing a space for leaders to discuss pressing leadership challenges, outside of the public domain.
Conversations are shaped according to member interest, typically following current affairs. In 2023, members discussed public and private sector collaboration, managing risk and performance, and public bodies’ role in policymaking.
Keith Fraser, PCF Interim Chair and Chair of the Youth Justice Board, hosts this series.
Peer networks
Community conversations for Equality, diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Human Resources (HR) and board governance experts.
Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) forum
Our EDI forum meets online quarterly. Richard Bond, Innovation and Services Director at The Coal Authority and Dionne Spence, Chief Enforcement Officer and Deputy Registrar, General Pharmaceutical Council, co-chair this group committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in the public sector.
Conversations are member-led, covering topics ranging from supporting staff with caring responsibilities, to delivering on your public sector equality duty.
Public body chief executives, chairs, executives, and EDI experts are invited to join this group.
Board Secretaries’ forum
Martin Skeats, Board Secretary of the Disclosure and Barring Service, chairs this popular forum for governance experts, enabling members to exchange ideas and practice.
Sessions take place online quarterly, with agendas set by members covering topics from board effectiveness reviews to non-executive director inductions.
Public body governance leads – such as heads of governance and board secretaries – are invited to join this group.
Board secretaries’ forum fills an important gap, providing a space for public body governance experts to exchange expert knowledge and support each other. I thoroughly enjoy our quarterly conversations and the online forum is a great source of support. I look forward to seeing the group continue to grow.
Martin Skeats
Chair, Board secretaries’ forum
Research
The changing nature of public leadership
Research published by the Association of Chief Executives, Public Chairs’ Forum, and Windsor Leadership to envision public leadership in the future.
Throughout 2023, PCF explored the changing nature of public body leadership through consultation with over 60 public service leaders. The 2024-25 Member Programme takes its steer from the insights gathered through this research, released in the November 2023 insight report: ‘Public leadership: navigating uncharted waters.’
The research identifies common barriers to leadership success, key attributes of leadership today, and the role that organisations can play in enabling leaders to succeed in a changing landscape. Leaders are invited to build on this research, together with ongoing consideration of public body reform, to shape a vision of the future for public body leadership.
2024-25 calendar dates
| Month | In-person | Online |
| April |
Masterclass for new chairs
|
HR directors’ forum
|
| May |
ACE -PCF seminar (hybrid) 14 May 2024, 09:00-12:30 (including networking lunch) Masterclass for new chairs
|
EDI forum Chairs’ challenge Online roundtable on public sector procurement |
| June |
Masterclass for new chairs Summer garden party
|
Board secretaries’ forum 14 June 2024, 10:00-11:30
|
| Month | In-person | Online |
| July |
Breakfast at IFG
|
HR directors’ forum 17 July 2024, 12:00-13:30 |
| August | Summer break | Summer break |
| September |
|
EDI forum Board secretaries’ forum Chairs’ Challenge
|
| Month | In-person | Online |
| October |
|
Finance and Corporate Services directors’ Forum 8 October 2024, 09:30 – 11:00 HR directors’ forum |
| November |
|
|
| December |
Annual General Meeting (hybrid) 11 December, 12:15-12:45 Register here
|
Chairs’ challenge Board secretaries’ forum 6 December 2024, 10:00-11:30 |
| Month | In-person | Online |
| January |
ACE-PCF Quarterly Seminar (hybrid) Register here |
EDI forum 14 January 2025,13:00 – 14:30 |
| February |
ACE – PCF Annual Conference
|
Chairs’ challenge HR directors’ forum |
| March |
Board secretaries’ forum |
