Managers in local government are being urged to participate in Leaders UK, a new

cross-sector programme run by the Cabinet Office. The call has come from the
Leadership Centre for Local Government, which is offering to meet half the
12,000-pound cost of the programme for up to 20 participants.

The programme will begin on September 2005 and applications should be made to
the National School for Government by July 29th.

The programme has been designed at the instigation of the CBI and central and
local government to prepare people from all sectors to lead reform of public
services. The object is to develop understanding of commercial and public
service cultures and skills among senior managers from central and local
government, health, police, the voluntary sector and business.

The Leaders UK programme will be delivered by a consortium of the National
School of Government, the University of Birmingham and Ashridge, the centre for
business and society. The Leadership Centre will handle applications and select
those to take part.

Its chief executive, Wendy Thomson, said she recognised that many councils still
found it difficult to spend this level of money on their senior staff, and that
without some subsidy local government might lose out. “The Centre hopes that
this investment programme will enable local government leadership to participate
alongside other sectors, giving some excellent people the opportunity to both
contribute to and learn from the exchange. We will be offering similar funding
for individual elected members to benefit from top-level development, ” she
said.

The support being offered to individuals complements the Centre’s work with
political and managerial leadership that is focused more on organizational
development and top teams. The Centre is currently working with more than twenty
local authorities to build both their own leadership capacity and that of their
partnerships.