Councils in the East Midlands have made training middle managers a top priority in 2005, writes David Craik.

A survey by the East Midlands Regional Local Government Association and the Employers' Organisation for local government found that only 9 per cent have plans in place to improve middle management skills, but that 84 per cent of responding councils had assessed their development needs.

The report found that 90 per cent had carried out an appraisal or developmental review for middle managers, with 75 per cent having developed competencies frameworks.

Jonathan Trubshaw, skills and development manager at the Employers' Organisation, said he hoped that those councils that didn't have such plans for middle management would soon follow suit: "Promoting the development of middle managers in local government is one of our priorities and the lessons learned from the East Midlands will inform our policy for the country as a whole.

He added: "The study has revealed significant evidence of good practice and I hope that this will encourage other authorities in the region to learn from the successes of their colleagues and implement the training and development initiatives that this study has shown to be so effective."