Senior Communications staff within local councils are the latest target for the Improvement and Development Agency. It is to build on its training and communications toolkits by launching a leadership development programme aimed at senior council communications professionals and heads of communications.The object of the programme is to create a group of top-tier local government communications executives who are serious about a career within, and the improvement of, local government communications. IDeA says it will be a heavyweight programme and people wanting to take part will have to have their applications supported by their chief executive.

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Education inspectors have found significant weaknesses in the training provided to newly appointed headteachers. Ofsted has been looking into the Headlamp programme and inspectors reported finding good quality training overall but they have highlighted the need for improvementsTheir report, Training for Newly Appointed Headteachers: the Headteachers’ Leadership and Management Programme, says new headteachers have gained in confidence and broadened their understanding of leadership and management as a result of the programme.

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This interim report by Sir Michael Lyons identifies some of the issues surround re-location from London and the South East which will be considered in the final report to be presented to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer in November 2003. The ambition of Ministers is to relocate significant amounts of activity to other parts of the UK, in order to deliver greater value for the taxpayer, improve service delivery and to make Government more responsive to differentiated needs across the country. Early indications are that at least 20,000 posts can be re-located.Some 230,000 civil servants and other national Government workers are in London and the South East – about a third of the total. There is a strong economic case for re-location. A call center work station costs some 3000 pounds less per year in the regions. Office rents are typically 53 pounds in London compared to 27 pounds in the regions. Recruitment and retention in London is more difficult than in regional offices despite paying 20 per cent more at junior grades and at least 10 per cent more at senior grades. The average house price in greater London is some three times greater than the average for the north. The average travel to work time in London is 59 minutes, compared to 32 in Birmingham and 28 in Leeds.

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