A recent social media post from Dr Nighat Arif captures my thoughts about the 2026 revision of England’s Women’s Health Strategy, despite real ambition, there is a gap between promise and practice. That sums up how I feel.
When Brentwood Borough Council and Rochford District Council came to Acudemy, they weren't looking for another off-the-shelf leadership course. They had already tried the market and found it wanting.
Brentwood Borough Council and Rochford District Council didn't set out to write a case study. They set out to solve a specific, familiar problem: frontline supervisors who had earned their authority through years of doing the job, but had never been formally trained to lead people.
It's a problem so common in local authorities and housing associations that it rarely gets flagged as urgent. It shows up quietly, as inconsistency rather than crisis. A policy applied one way by one supervisor and differently by another. A difficult conversation avoided rather than had. A standard that slips slightly because no one is quite sure whose job it is to hold the line.
Artificial intelligence is developing at remarkable speed. Organisations are investing heavily in new tools, employees are finding new ways to use them, and regulators are increasingly focused on ensuring that AI is deployed responsibly.
Many financial services firms have moved quickly to establish AI policies, governance frameworks and approval processes.
That's necessary.
But it doesn't answer a more difficult question:
