Agenda item

Councillor Judi Billing introduced the item. In terms of the delivery of the 2016/17 leadership offer, the programme had attracted 649 participants, the second highest total in the last ten years, 95 percent said that attending the programmes had made them more confident in their leadership role and that the ethnicity balance had improved. However there had been a small decrease in gender equality and engagement from the north-east is not optimum.

Councillor Billing outlined the refreshed leadership offer for 2017/18 which had been developed in response to the new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed with the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). This involved augmenting current programmes with an increased offer around managerial leadership in conjunction with SOLACE.

Discussion

Members of the board discussed:

1)    The level of engagement mentioned within the report as higher, despite fewer attendees. Officers explained this is due to individual members taking up multiple offers.

2)    The question of why not all leadership programmes are full considering each council receives free places and whether more could be done to encourage authorities to take up these places.

Decision

Members:

1)    Noted the outturn figures for 2016/17.

2)    Agreed the work plan for 2017/18.