A brighter futureNew directions for the National Graduate Development Programme for local government (ngdp)

ContentsAbout this paper 3

Summary 4

ngdp at a crossroads 7

Developing the next generation of councils 9

Futureproofing the workforce 10

The current tripartite relationship 12

Achieving return on investment 15

The value of graduates 17

Alignment with other schemes 20

Development of talent across the country 21

Next steps 23

Appendix 1

Locations of cohort 13 24

Appendix 2

Contributors, questionnaire responses and interviews 25

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About this paper

Local government is entering into an exciting phase in its history. There is a substantial change agenda and the sector needs future leaders that will engage in this historic process. The role that local government plays in society is fundamentally changing and with it - how councils will provide public services in the future. This has an immediate impact on the workforce and raises questions about the type of leaders needed as well as the future of talent management.

As part of this the local government National Graduate Development Programme (ngdp) is under the spotlight as a pipeline of graduate talent to the sector. LGA, SOLACE Enterprises and iMPOWER have come together with a common objective of developing the ngdp to ensure that it continues to make a positive contribution to the recruitment, development and retention of future leaders, and that this is part of an integrated approach to cross public services talent management.

The aim of this publication is to engage more councils in the scheme, and generate involvement of the sector in setting its direction and ensuring it remains relevant and responsive to the needs of the sector.

The messages on the future of this programme has been developed following wide consultation with the sector including responses from a questionnaire circulated at the SOLACE conference as well as interviews with chief executives, councillors, senior human resources professionals and alumni. The focal point of our research has been a roundtable discussion, attended by a range of council representatives.

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Summary

Background to the review

This review has taken place in the context of widespread local government transformation. There are a number of serious challenges facing councils including attracting, developing and retaining the right leadership with the talent and skills to create the public services our communities deserve. These include the ability to manage efficient services, work with communities and partners, and develop as well as operate alternative delivery models.

There has never been a more opportune moment to bring in graduate talent. The quality of the recruits has not come under question throughout this consultation. However, despite the high calibre of talented graduates the programme recruits, council uptake has fallen in the current restrictive financial climate. At the same time demand for places on the programme from graduates has increased.

Councils are urged to act now by signing up to be part of the programme and helping to close the gap between the high number of graduates who are keen to start building their career in local government through the ngdp and the number of places available. The benefits for councils, and the sector in general, include:

• The ngdp is a key route into the sector for the best young talent, across the country. Recruitment and investment in the development of a graduate will incur a far lower cost than future recruitment into a senior role from outside of the sector.

• Graduates tend to act as internal change agents, providing constructive challenge and fresh thinking to the development of council strategies.

• Increasing the focus on graduate recruitment will help to address one of the most significant issues facing local government – the ever increasing age profile of its workforce. Currently 35 per cent of the workforce is aged over 50 and only 12 per cent is under 301.

1 Local Government Workforce Statistics, LGA.

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A new direction

“The scheme is vital - bringing in new talent, keeping local government young and opening up Local Government career options for today’s graduates” Andrew Muter, Chief Executive, Newark and Sherwood District Council

This publication sets out the results of research and consultation with local government about what works well in the scheme, what should be improved and the future direction it needs to take. A key theme emerging from this research is that the calibre of the graduates is consistently high; they tend to hit the ground running, be quick to learn and often bring fresh perspectives and ideas that are valued. To take the scheme forward for the future, a number of options are proposed for further discussion and development:

• As an overarching aim, the ngdp needs to increase council involvement and uptake of graduates recruited through the scheme.

• To achieve this it is recognised that more needs to be done to increase the market reach of the programme with councils. Central to this is the use of alumni and regional networks who can play a key role in advocating the programme and provide successful examples of how the ngdp has impacted positively. Especially in terms of its return on investment for the host council.

• An agreed methodology could then be developed and shared to measure the local return on investment of graduate schemes in order to support the financial case for graduate recruitment.

• To ensure that the financial offer remains affordable and demonstrates value for money for all, it is important to consider the respective role of the local council, the partner organisation, the LGA and graduates themselves in developing the model for the ROI for the ngdp.

• The programme would benefit councils much more were it to support integration through cross sector placements and network development with local partners. Development is needed to agree national and local partnerships with the relevant agencies and government bodies to agree a process that ensures added value for everyone involved.

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• It will be essential that the ngdp is seen as providing graduates with the relevant skills that meet the needs of councils now and in the future. This would include commissioning skills, business acumen, ability to work closely with partners and communities, all within a political environment.

Next steps towards a brighter future

The scheme needs to be developed for the sector, by the sector. The greater the involvement of senior sector leaders and managers in shaping its future, the more it will deliver for local government.

“With the sector facing unprecedented challenges, it is vital that we invest in our future managerial leadership. The national graduate development programme brings a fresh approach to talent management that complements the idea of internal ‘grow your own’ schemes. National management trainees on the ngdp have proved time and time again that they are able to challenge, deliver and encourage authorities to look at problems and solutions in a different way to the benefit of local communities” Councillor Richard Stay, Improvement Board, Local Government Association

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Ngdp at a crossroads

The National Graduate Development Programme is highly regarded; it brings credibility to the career choice of local government and is placed firmly within the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers and Guardian 300. The ngdp has provided a pipeline of consistently high calibre graduates to 135 authorities over 13 cohorts. The programme is governed by a three-way partnership agreement between the participating council, the national management trainee (NMT) and LGA. Councils provide a two-year programme made up of four half year work placements, including projects and development opportunities for each graduate appointed.

Despite an increase in applications and a strong reputation, the scheme has suffered a decline in council uptake which is largely due to the economic downturn and its impact on council’s budgets. This presents a real challenge to sustaining its position as an employer of choice. To attract the best, the scheme has to compete with the private sector and other high performing public sector schemes, such as the NHS Management Scheme and the Civil Service Fast Stream; which both rank in the Top 10 of the Times Top 100 graduate employers.

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Case study: a council’s story of their involvement with the ngdp and how it helped

Oldham Council

Oldham Council has employed four NMTs over three years. This has given the council a small but invaluable resource of enthusiastic and talented employees who we deploy to meet a diverse range of service needs.

The NMTs have worked across the organisation, in services as diverse as waste, adult social care, neighbourhoods, customer services, and policy. In doing so they have delivered a myriad of challenging projects including leading the Future Jobs Fund initiative, developing and implementing a corporate social responsibility policy and employee volunteering scheme, and realising significant savings through rationalising the council’s document and records archiving.

Their experience of working in a variety of placements across the organisation allows the NMTs to develop a real understanding of the challenges and priorities facing a range of business areas, meaning they genuinely understand the breadth and diversity of the Council’s role – a rare insight which makes

them valuable ambassadors for our One Council approach, and which will serve them well as they progress in their careers.

We have also found that the national nature of the scheme, which allows Oldham based NMTs to share learning with others through the ngdp network, is invaluable in enabling knowledge to be shared across the country.

We consider the ngdp to be an important and valuable investment, both now and for the future, with our NMTs adding value whilst on the scheme and as they develop their careers within the organisation.

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Developing the next generation of councils

Local government is facing unprecedented financial challenges. Councils are changing shape and are fundamentally transforming what they do and how they do it. At the same time they are also redefining aspects of the relationship between the council and the citizen. Increasingly councils need skills that have not been developed before, including commercial acumen and commissioning ability in order to deliver services through partners. Effective workforce planning should ensure that there is a continuous source of high calibre talent entering the sector to guarantee its long term sustainability and effectiveness. However, in 2011 only 25 councils signed up to participate in the NGDP (compared to 45 in the previous year), providing 47 graduate places (just over 40 per cent fewer than in 2010).

“We know that these are very, very challenging economic times. What council isn’t going to see the business benefit of bringing in young, positive, public service talent that can help them to meet their business needs?” Penny Thompson, Chief Executive, General Social Care

We know local government is a sector that our best young people want to join - nearly 2500 graduates have applied to be part of the 2012 ngdp intake. In a climate of workforce reduction many councils are waiting for the financial storm to settle before investing in bringing in new talent. This means they are reliant on the reinvention of existing workforce to deliver change. This is perhaps an understandable short term reaction, but feedback during this consultation suggests that both the short-term and long-term business case for councils to look at taking on more graduates is exceptionally strong.

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Futureproofing the workforce

“I think we need to make it clear what the benefits of having young people in local government are, both financially but also in terms of the culture of that organisation and the implications for the local economy of trying to recruit more young people into the sector. So we don’t face the problem in 5 to 10 years of a lack of management capability because we’ve had a dearth of young people coming into the sector.” Chris Badger, Head of Policy, Hertfordshire County Council

The age profile of local government does not currently reflect the make-up of the communities it serves. 35 per cent of the workforce is aged over fifty. There is an imperative to ensure new talent is joining the sector to provide the skills and capacity required into the future. This problem is on the radar of many councillors and chief

executives who acknowledge with concern that a significant amount of managers will be exiting the sector over the next few years at a rate that is not matched by intake.

“The age-profile of the workforce is an issue high on the agenda, we need to consciously talent spot to support the sector and some graduates may find they move quickly through the organisation as a result” Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham

The ngdp is a key route into the sector for the best young talent across the country. Recruitment and investment in the development of a graduate will incur a far lower cost than future recruitment into a senior role from outside of the sector. Given the existing age profile of the sector, it is unlikely that the gap arising from future retirements can be resolved by recycling internal capacity alone.

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The ngdp is also introducing more women into the sector with the potential for them to develop into managerial roles. Year on year, more women apply to the scheme than men and this gap tends to increase when it comes to assessment centre success. Whilst the strength of the graduates appointed into local government through the scheme is undisputed, there has been recognition of the lack of diversity within intakes, with graduates tending to come from similar academic backgrounds with similar interests. A consistent theme has been the need for alternative perspectives and ability and willingness to challenge the status quo. This has been consistently flagged as a characteristic of the most valued graduates and may arise from introducing individuals from a broader range of backgrounds.

“We need to think long term about the quality of people [working in the sector] and the reputation of local government”Helen Bailey, Chief Executive, Local Partnerships

The graduate recruitment market is on the course to recovery from the financial crisis, with 60 per cent of employers recruiting more graduates in 2011 and 25 per cent maintaining 2010 levels2. Public sector recruitment tells a different story than the market overall, with a 21.8 per cent reduction in available posts in 2011. For the ngdp, there has been a 44 per cent reduction in intake between 2007 and 2010 despite a 36 per cent increase in applications. There is a large pool of talent that is attracted to working in local government, but whose skills will be redirected to other sectors due to competition for such limited spaces.

Increasing its presence in the graduate employment market would help to ensure local government is viewed favourably in comparison to other public sector schemes.

2 “The Graduate Market in 2011” High Fliers Research, 2011 www.highfliers.co.uk

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The current tripartite relationship

The ngdp is based on a three-way agreement between the LGA, the national management trainee, and the host authority. Each has their own obligations and responsibilities to the programme in order to ensure its success for all involved. These are set out below:

The LGA role The LGA takes responsibility for the coordination of the scheme overall. It focuses on:

• Marketing: Working to ensure that the local government sector is known as an employer of choice for top graduates from universities across the country.

• Recruitment: With more than 40 applications for each NMT place available, the LGA operates a comprehensive three stage recruitment process which includes application and assessment centre screening before a graduate is matched to an authority for the final interview stage.

• Learning and Development: The LGA organises and facilitates a number of sessions that support NMTs to focus on and develop those skills/qualities that will bring the most value to the sector. These include personal resilience, ability to work with elected members, customer insight, social media, critical thinking and procurement. By regularly bringing the NMTs together, they also form strong networks that allow innovative approaches to common problems to be shared between and across councils. It also provides the NMTs with valuable exposure to sector leaders.

• Support and guidance: The LGA offers advice and assistance to NMTs and authorities, in order to help them get the most out of the ngdp experience.

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What to expect from the NMT

• Commitment to at least a two-year employment with their host authority

• Delivery of work in a range of placements and projects within an authority

• Continuous personal learning and development, including aspiring to high levels of competence in a number of specific areas, such as people management, financial management, strategic management and project management.

The current role of the council

“Every single graduate has been excellent and I’m a real believer in the scheme because the assessment process has brought us an excellent candidate every time and we’ve been spoilt for choice.”Zoe Hanim, Head of Policy, Performance and Community Reading Borough Council.

The LGA’s aim for the ngdp is to facilitate a national offer of consistently high-quality graduate development that brings the very best young people into local government and supports them to become the future leaders of the sector. Fundamentally though, this is a scheme for councils, and there is an expectation on the part of the LGA and NMT that the council will provide:

• a minimum of a standard two-year fixed-term contract, subject to normal terms and conditions, which includes access to staff training and development opportunities, active line management, and leadership from a programme sponsor at a senior management level

• allocation of a placement coordinator, who will facilitate and manage the NMTs two-year placement between a range of projects and roles across the authority

• provision of a series of challenging placement opportunities that exposes the NMT to a range of service areas and demands an appropriate level of responsibility for different aspects of local government management

• active support and participation in the development of the ngdp programme.

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Case study: The role of an NMT and their placements

Reading Borough Council

Reading has employed one NMT a year since 2006, and in that time the scheme and the trainees have become well regarded at the council. NMTs begin their time at the council with a placement in the corporate policy team which means they gain a good understanding of the range and variety of activity across the council, and they quickly build relationships with senior managers through their role in preparing the council’s corporate plan.

Following this the NMTs spend a further three placements with a range of council services, ensuring they experience a mix of services and strategic, support and operational management roles. Service areas for recent placements have included Communications, Adult Social Care, Early Years and Business Improvement. The placements are carefully chosen by the NMT and a panel of senior managers to ensure they are best for the council and the NMT’s ongoing development. NMTs are stretched and challenged to create added value in their role while receiving strong support in any learning and development they need to achieve this.

Because the NMT’s role brings them into contact with a wide range of staff and services it means they build a unique view of the organisation, and one that is highly valued for sharing information and ideas across the organisation. Furthermore the wider network of the ngdp that allows NMTs to learn from their colleagues is hugely beneficial for support and knowledge sharing.

NMTs are provided with a strong network of support by the council - beyond the line management and senior manager sponsorship in each placement they have the guidance of a placement co-ordinator and mentor. Their development is seen as highly important to the organisation. Their enthusiasm and quick learning has been praised during placements and the reputation of NMTs as a valuable resource is known across the organisation.

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Achieving return on investment

“In my experience the ndgp more than covers its costs”David Hill, Chief Executive, Milton Keynes Council

The scheme costs councils the graduate salary (£23k) and an additional £2k for each of the recruits. The additional costs of training and development that are not met by the contribution are funded through the revenue grant contribution to the LGA.

In the medium to long term there is a strong financial case for graduate recruitment: Graduates are reported to generate three times their salary3 and in the NHS where they have measured return on investment, they have yielded returns in the tens of thousands per management trainee. In the longer term growing your own talent is cheaper than recruiting higher up in the management structure.

3 “Adding Value Beyond Measure,” Hesketh, Dr A. (2009)

Despite this financial case, in an era of unprecedented cuts to public sector jobs, many councils have found it challenging to justify expenditure in the short term. The challenge is to ensure that financial constraints do not lead to cost cutting in the short term that will be more expensive in the medium term.

Developing the model for the future

“The LGA is very committed to the future of the ngdp. We strongly believe that it adds value to the sector and we want to engage with councils and other key partners to get their input and make it fit for purpose and sustainable for the future.”Pascoe Sawyers, Principal Adviser, Leadership and Localism, Local Government Association

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In the current financial climate there is a need to assess alternative financial models that may improve its affordability for the sector. The following opportunities are proposed for consideration:

• placements funded by the private sector to reduce salary cost to the authority

• a loyalty scheme for the recruitment fee based on the number of graduates employed

• an additional internship or shorter scheme that will enable councils to take in talent for shorter periods at a lower cost

• potential opportunities for scheme sponsorship

• opt-in elements of the scheme to enable local authorities to tailor to their budget.

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The value of graduates

“Based on my experience when working for a council I know it can initially be a very hard sell. Trying to persuade the management team and the chief executive at the time about the worthwhile investment in a national graduate, but once we got one on board, there was no problem selling a second”Trudy Birtwell, Head of Leadership & Organisational Development (interim), SOLACE Enterprises

“Fantastic, vital pipeline of talent” Bev Messinger, Director of Customer and Workforce Services, Coventry City Council

“Very high quality, made a positive impact”James Henderson, Director of Policy and Research, Sheffield City Council

“We have had five ngdp over the past 4/5 years and I’ve been impressed by the calibre, which is consistently high”Peter Bungard, Chief Executive, Gloucestershire County Council

As local government continues to evolve so do the skills required within the workforce, and those recruited through the ngdp appear to be ahead of the curve in this regard. Feedback tells us that they are often seen as change agents, bringing energy, enthusiasm and intellect, demonstrating an ability to rise to a challenge and hit the ground running.

“Graduates bring a level of intellectual capacity and a preparedness to challenge and enquire” Paul Sheehan, Chief Executive, Walsall Council

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Our research shows that chief executives are keen to develop a workforce which understands the council from an internal and external perspective. Being able to work outwards with communities, members and delivery partners as well as managing services internally. Leadership skills and a proactive approach are key, alongside an ability to work in a political environment. A need for commercial acumen and commissioning skills was prevalent amongst responses to this project and highlighted the shift in the direction that local government is taking. The ideal graduate would balance these skills with an underpinning desire for a career in public service.

Using graduates more effectively

“There is a dramatic change in local government; graduates need to be prepared to challenge….we need bright talent that can manage our services. We need creative thinking and commitment to public service”Lesley Seary, Chief Executive, London Borough of Islington.

Interviews with chief executives and senior managers provided a broad consensus that there is a need for a pipeline of gifted generalists who are adept at managing services. As part of the tripartite relationship, NMTs, the ngdp and councils need to work out potential means of developing this career path within a service environment often used to recruiting managers based on professional experience. There are many chief executives in post who provide evidence this does not need to be a barrier.

“We have found the programme is really successful in immersing talented graduates in performance and project management. The challenge now is how we broaden that experience to give them the skills and flexibility to become the managers and leaders of the future”Tim Shields, Chief Executive, London Borough of Hackney

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To date many NMTs are attracted to the policy and project management within local government. However, leaders in local government acknowledged that graduates will need to shape, deliver or commission services into the future. In order to address this imbalance the scheme is already changing in the following ways:

• Development of scheme literature and assessment processes to reflect the skills councils are now looking for.

• Development of opportunities for NMTs to have external experience and learn from other sectors. This may include the NHS to gain a wider local place perspective and developing links or a private sector organisation such as a delivery partner.

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Harnessing the pool of graduate talent in local public services

“The exposure to those different types of public services – delivery of public service – feels to me to like the centre of what the development programme should be about.”Philippa Morris, Shared Head of Organisational Development, London Borough of Walthamstow and Haringey

The ngdp is not the only graduate route into local government; graduates enter the sector locally, outside of a graduate scheme or through professional routes, such as social work or as a CIPFA trainee. There is an appetite from senior management to develop links with other local public services and delivery partners, such as social enterprise or NHS. As localism and joint delivery progresses, the benefits of collaboration and joint learning have been identified by senior stakeholders who see potential in cross

Alignment with other schemes

fertilisation of skills and learning between future managers and professionals. In the future there is a role for the ngdp to take the lead in building relationships, helping to build networks and reduce silo behaviours. The ngdp could develop a next generation of managers working to create alignment within the locality, working with local partners and communities through the NHS, third sector, social enterprise and delivery partners. Despite being a national scheme - the ngdp could be used as a key driver in the development of regional and local links and public service evolution.

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Development of talent across the country

“The scheme has worked well in major cities; we need to also focus on building local talent”Lesley Seary, Chief Executive, London Borough of Islington

A core objective for the sustainability of the ngdp is to increase council take up across the country. Whilst half of London Boroughs currently have NMTs from cohorts 12 and 13, nationally only 7 per cent of councils have taken on graduates in 2011. In comparison to the majority of the competitors for the brightest graduate talent, local government has the potential to offer graduates employment across all of England whilst also offering a choice of places in the capital. This is an advantage in an era when more and more graduates are returning home for financial reasons after university. (See Diagram 1 in Appendix 1)

“I think that we need to really think creatively about involving people who are on the programme – and who used to be on the programme - to promote the value of the ngdp to councils. To get them to understand the benefits they will get by being part of the programme, the value for money and the return on their investment they will get from taking on graduates as part of the ngdp.”Michael Gladstone, National Management Trainee

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There are a number of opportunities available to address the regional imbalance:

• utilising the alumni network to develop the marketing of the scheme: the ngdp alumni can relate authoritatively and honestly to potential applicant graduates about the strength of the programme and the fantastic range of opportunities in the local government sector.

• utilising ‘champion’ authorities to develop the marketing of the scheme using direct experience of the benefits the ngdp has brought.

• creating a simultaneous national and regional offer: providing the sector with the brightest and best graduates from across the country, whilst supporting a local offer that helps them support the talent in their areas.

• developing a programme to link the ngdp with the development of local employment.

• raising the contribution of the scheme to developing local talent by sharing details within the sector of local graduates interested in the sector by creating a talent pool.

• regional road-shows where local ngdp alumni, NMTs, councils and graduates can understand more about each other and what exactly a regional offer should incorporate

This means utilising NMT and alumni networks to generate the learning and development for themselves and for the sector. While the LGA has developed a more practical skills based learning and development offer, this could be developed further to include action learning visits to authorities facing a particular problem or issue.

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Next steps

This publication has started the debate on the future direction for the ngdp. Central to its development is shaping the scheme to meet council needs. It is essential for the performance and ultimately the sustainability of the scheme to increase council uptake and engage the sector in its development.

There are a number of ways you can get involved:

Talk to the LGA about signing up to the scheme

Discuss participation in the programme, and how to benefit from one of the next cohort of high-calibre NMTs.

Speak to a council that is already engaged

If you’d like to hear some first-hand experience of the ngdp and how it has worked in another council, let us know. The LGA can put you in touch with another authority that

will understand what you need to know about participating, and can give you their honest opinion.

Come to a regional road-show event

Maybe you’re already involved in the ngdp and want to help spread the message, or maybe you’re not involved yet, but want to learn more about how the ngdp could work in your local area.

Give the LGA feedback on the scheme

If you have any feedback on the scheme, whether it’s to tell us about an element of the scheme that you really value, or what it is that is currently holding you back from participating, please let us know.

For more information or to talk about any of the above contact Ami Beeton: ami.beeton@local.gov.uk or 0207 665 3851.

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Diagram 1: Locations of cohort 13

Appendix 1

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Appendix 2

Contributors

We would like to thank the following individuals for their time and contributions to our research.

Questionnaire responses and Interviews:

Andrew Muter Chief Executive Newark and Sherwood District CouncilBala Mahendran Chief Executive Basildon CouncilBev Messinger Director of Customer and Coventry City Council Workforce Services Chris Bocock Chief Executive Malvern HillsChas Bradfield Deputy Chief Executive Surrey Heath District Council Cllr Richard Stay Member LGA Improvement BoardDavid Hill Chief Executive Milton Keynes CouncilHelen Bailey Chief Executive Local PartnershipsJenny Rowlands Chief Executive Lewes District CouncilJohn Mothersole Chief Executive Sheffield City CouncilLesley Seary Chief Executive London Borough of IslingtonMark Hynes Director of Governance London Borough of Lambeth and DemocracyMartin Swales Chief Executive South Tyneside CouncilMichael Coughlin Chief Executive Reading Borough CouncilPaul Sheehan Chief Executive Walsall Council

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Paul Taylor Chief Executive East London Waste AuthorityPeter Bungard Chief Executive Gloucestershire County CouncilShokat Lal Assistant Director Customer Coventry City Council and Business ServicesSir Steve Bullock Mayor London Borough of LewishamSusie Kemp Deputy Chief Executive Surrey County Council

Roundtable

Trudy Birtwell Head of Leadership and Solace Enterprises Organisational Development (interim)Zoe Hanim Head of Policy, Performance Reading Borough Council and CommunityJo Clemente Head of Organisational Enfield Council Development and LearningTim Shields Chief Executive London Borough of HackneyPhilippa Morris Shared Head of London Boroughs of Walthamstow Organisational Development and HaringeyPenny Thompson Chief Executive General Social Care CouncilMichael Gladstone National Management Trainee London Borough of SuttonMargaret Glossop Organisational Development Consultant Oldham CouncilValerie Jenkins Head of Organisation and London Borough of Bromley Employee Development

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