In this series of local government Q&As, Stephen Ottewell, Director of Planning and Building Control at Capita Local Public Services, interviews planning experts on hot topics in the sector, including the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

We’re seeing a variety of new trends affecting the utilities market, relating to the environment, infrastructure and consumers.

A landmark White Paper published by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in September 2020 outlined proposed Government legislation for significantly improving the criminal justice system.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), 65% of children entering primary school today will end up in jobs that don’t yet exist.

As more people join the gig economy and employers add more contingent workers to their resourcing mix, being able to onboard new employees quickly has become a pressing need.

If the cloud was a priority for businesses before 2020, the onset of the global pandemic has made it more critical than ever.

After years of austerity, councils are under increasing pressure to deliver more with less. They’re struggling to find ways of meeting citizens’ demands with contracting workforces and budgets that have been pared to the bone.

"Can we uninstall 2020? The current version has a nasty virus in it,” says the meme flying around social media for the past few months. There are, however, glimmers of light that can be found around the world which have arisen out of the pandemic.

We can rise to the COVID-19 challenge if we focus on wellbeing and innovation, says Christine Chesworth, Head of HR Advisory at Capita.

According to a recent Gartner report, 81% of executives believe they’ll compete on customer experience alone in the not-too-distant future.