23 November 2001
Fifty graduates will be offered two years' training in all aspects of managing a local authority while on the scheme, due to be launched in 2002. Trainees who successfully complete the programme will be expected to become senior managers within ten years.
Training will involve placements with host authorities and classroom-based study for a postgraduate qualification.
The top slice strategy group, part of the Local Government Association, has asked Local Government Secretary Stephen Byers for a £500,000 grant to fund the scheme for 2002/03. He is due to make a final decision next week.
Charles Nolda, executive director of the EO, said they had decided to set up the national programme so that local government could harness a 'high-calibre resource' not currently available to individual councils.
The recruitment of recent graduates is very low – only 6% of local authority staff are under 25.
'The programme will contribute significantly to raising the profile of local government as an employer and will have associated local recruitment benefits,' he said.
'It will also provide many benefits from economies of scale in recruitment and promotion, and is intended to provide a cohort of future senior managers.'
The EO has now put out a call for local authorities interested in taking part in the training programme. It is hoping to involve around 35 councils in the first year.
PFnov2001
