Held at Motherwell Civic Centre, the seminar took on the title, 'After the recession: So what do we do now?', and featured contributions from a host of experts in the field of local authority research and intelligence.
Chaired by LARIA in Scotland's Stuart Booker, delegates were treated to informative presentations and took part in two specially-designed workshops, which focused on various aspects of future local government.
During his in-depth presentation, Mr Mair initially talked about the general consensus that has built up in Scotland over the level of financial reductions expected in the coming years – which is estimated to sit between 9% to 12% real reduction from 2011/12 to 2013/14.
He said: "There is a very big pressure coming and it's an unusual pressure – we are not used to managing that scale of reduction so quickly."
Under the heading, 'Rethinking Service Delivery', Mr Mair offered relevant examples from the UK and beyond, and spoke at length about the huge research agenda in the current climate.
He said: "There's a big comparative agenda in pulling together evidence of where people have done interesting and imaginative things.
"What did they have to have to do to get those things to work? And how would that then inform our service planning, and capital planning, as we go forward?
Summing up, Mr Mair said: "Across the whole agenda, research and knowledge management are absolutely critical to understanding the causalities involved, the range of intervention options that might be available to us, and measuring and understanding the nature of the impacts we are achieving through that.
"This is not a time when one should be cutting research and intelligence capacity. This is a time when one should be strengthening and focusing research and intelligence capacity."
Earlier, Jenny Stewart, Partner and Head of Infrastructure and Government, Scotland at KPMG, looked at the economic context within which the public sector will have to operate in the coming years, highlighting the constraints on public expenditure.
Professor Eddie Frizzell, Visiting Professor in Public Service Management, Queen Margaret University, then focused on possible responses by public sector organisations to limit the impact of spending constraints, while also maintaining service quality.
Highlighting the need to "plan ahead", "prioritise" and "review systems", Professor Frizzell talked about developing the appropriate kind of leadership during this crucial period and "getting the people delivering the service to contribute to the discussion".
He said: "We have to tell it like it is, boost confidence and encourage new behaviours. We have to encourage and reward people for being innovative".
Douglas Greig, Deputy Director for Strategy and Analytical Service Coordination, Scottish Government, highlighted the type of organisational knowledge needed to achieve radical change and the role of research in enabling such change.
Mr Greig said: "We have entered a great period of opportunity for analysis and research." He also spoke about the need for "collaborative working between local and national government."
