"Excuse me Sir, can I have a word?"

When wandering around Glastonbury Festival in thick mud and driving rain last week, I was accosted by a BBC journalist."Excuse me Sir, can I have a word?" Saga, it transpired,  had issued a press release claiming that of 150,000 tickets sold for the festival, 15,000 had gone to over 50s. He had the nerve to ask if I was one of them and whether I would go on Radio Somerset to speak about my experience. Being me I accepted. It got me thinking about how we urgently need to promote a different view of an ageing population as a time of opportunity and older people (yes, like me) as a valuable resource. We need to shift the discourse away from 'demographic time bomb' and 'perfect storm' to a richer, fuller understanding of the largely untapped resource that the ageing baby boomers can offer Scotland as they begin to step down from full time paid employment in increasing numbers.

In Scottish Borders we held an event last week - ‘Made to Measure: Local Needs and Local Services’- using a new place-based model, based upon the Integrated Resource Framework (IRF) from Scotland and the English experience of Total Place. Services are being redesigned across the Borders, area by area, starting first in the Cheviot locality which includes Kelso, Jedburgh and surrounding areas. At this event it was striking to note the demographic of the participant attendance - the average age of those prepared to get involved - yes it was an even higher proportion than at Glastonbury.

July is going to be a very important month for ADSW. On the 14th we hold our first Executive at our new base - Verity House in Edinburgh (the new COSLA office). This will allow any members (up to 3) who need to teleconference to do so - just let Sophie know. The agenda will be out at the end of this week and will contain the Petch Report on the evidence base for effective integration in adult social care. The draft report is rich with examples and evidence - the good and the bad - and should offer you some useful arguments to take forward locally.

What follows is even more important- a report on proposals for our pitch to government on the future of adult social care. We want your careful consideration and support. The ideas within this paper have been crafted by a group led by our Vice President, Peter Macleod and offer, in my judgement, the best opportunity we have to influence government on this issue before ideas congeal into a legislative or policy programme in the autumn.

If the Executive approve the approach it will be road tested immediately when, on 15th July, I attend the Health and Social Care Integration Meeting which has been convened by Scottish Government as a congress of all leading interests to make progress on the issue. We are well placed to exert influence; we have made effective alliances with key partner agencies and I now look for your support.

Finally, I met David Brindle in Cardiff recently when representing you at the ADSS Cymru conference (good event) and berated him for planning a Guardian Public Services Summit in Scotland without seeking our involvement (who does he imagine reads The Guardian in Scotland). The agenda will examine and explore the implications for public services of a period of economic turbulence and severe spending constraint. Some of the many questions to be debated include: how can we foster innovation to reform services; is joint delivery a viable option for Scotland; can social enterprise really be a scale solution?

David was generous when challenged and I will be speaking at the event.

Andrew