Agenda: Two Days to Shape the Future of Local Government Join senior leaders from across the North to tackle the sector’s biggest challenges - through collaboration, insight and innovation.

Mike Burton, Editorial Director of The MJ will introduce the event and give us a taster of what's to come and what to expect.

Moving desks to Manchester is not the same as moving power. This session asks what Number 10 North will change for councils and strategic authorities in practice. Will it clear barriers to growth and speed up decisions, or add another layer between places and the centre? And what would success look like by the end of this Parliament?

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With Andy Burnham now in Downing Street, "Manchesterism" has moved from a regional story to a model for the whole country. Burnham has described it as combining economic development with social benefit, channelling the proceeds of growth towards communities rather than relying on trickle-down. Behind the political brand is a longer history: decades of collaboration between councils, businesses, universities, the NHS and public services, built on foundations laid by Sir Richard Leese and Sir Howard Bernstein.

Tom Stannard, chief executive of Manchester City Council, will give the town hall's view of what Manchesterism means in practice. Drawing on his experience in Manchester and before that as chief executive of Salford, he will explore how a council works within England's most advanced strategic authority area. He will look at where the council's role sits alongside the combined authority, how partnerships are sustained over decades rather than electoral cycles, and whether the model can outlast any one leader. He will also consider the lessons for councils elsewhere as the government rolls out devolution across England.

As councils navigate growing scrutiny over conduct, transparency and public trust, Kath O'Dwyer, chair of Solace and chair of the Solace Commission on Professional Standards and Ethics, sets out why robust standards and ethical leadership matter more than ever for the sector. Drawing on the Commission's work, she explores what good practice looks like, where the current framework falls short, and what needs to change to strengthen public confidence in local government.

Following John Healey’s first Budget and the Government's shift towards fiscal devolution, how are local and strategic authorities’ finances impacted by the change to Burnham’s leadership?

This session will cut through the headlines to clarify what the Budget means for local government. It will look at the settlement ahead, how fiscal devolution might work in practice, and how funding will flow between the Treasury, strategic authorities and councils. It will also ask whether a greater share of locally raised taxes will give places real financial freedom, or simply shift risk to them.

Heather Jameson, Editor of The MJ welcomes us into Day 2 of The MJ Future Forum North, sharing the agenda for the day.

As the Government pushes ahead with plans to rewire the state and reshape the relationship between central and local government, this session draws on speakers who have worked on both sides of that divide. What does a civil service background bring to the practical realities of running a local authority, and conversely, what has life inside local government revealed that Whitehall still doesn't fully grasp? The panel explores what genuine ‘rewiring’ should look like when it's informed by experience of both systems, not just one.

Rewiring the State promises a major transfer of powers, resources and functions from central government to elected mayors and local authorities before 2029. It puts strategic authorities at the centre of delivering the Government's priorities, from good growth and council housebuilding to technical education and prevention. Many are still building the capacity to do it.

This session discusses what delivery looks like in practice. Where will new powers and funding make most difference? What capacity and skills will be needed? How will they work with constituent councils, No10 North and Whitehall to turn priorities into results.

The English Devolution White Paper made prevention the default for public service reform. In practice it is often backed in principle but harder to deliver in reality. As the Government delivers its vision for Rewiring the State, public sector bodies face a choice: treat digital integration as back-office improvement or use it to spot risk and offer support earlier before need escalates.

Drawing on Localis' Connected Prevention research, supported by TechnologyOne, this session will look at the data and technology needed to make prevention work. It will cover early case studies to look at what is realistic, lawful and can add value.

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As metro mayors take on ever-broader powers, Akash Paun of the Institute for Government asks a pointed question: is Andy Burnham's devolution agenda genuinely shifting power away from Whitehall, or simply recreating a regional tier of government reminiscent of the old Government Offices for the Regions? Or even recreating Whitehall at a regional level? Drawing on the IfG's experience, Paun will examine whether current arrangements amount to real local autonomy — or a rebranded version of central control.

Few people are better placed to decode Whitehall's thinking on local government than someone who's sat inside it. Former special adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Pete Robbins will give an insider account of the pressures, priorities and politics faced at the top of central government – and what it all means for local authorities navigating the road ahead.