The association has chosen QA, a leader in IT and business skills training, to run its highly successful Leadership Academy, which has seen over 200 professionals from the public sector complete its programmes, helping to shape and enable tomorrow's leaders to realise their capabilities.

In response to its successes, and by incorporating programme places into its corporate membership, Socitm is aiming to put over 200 people a year through the Academy.

Three programmes are available: Empowering Women in a Digital World (EWDW), aimed at aspiring female leaders predominantly from the public sector; Senior Leaders, a new one-day workshop aimed at driving the cultural change needed to enable the best business focused outcomes; and Top Talent, which offers public sector delegates leadership training and coaching.

These programmes are designed to help organisations tackle skills shortages, improve succession planning, and retain top talent.

In addition, QA will provide onsite training for organisations that opt for Socitm's top-tier Executive membership. Executive members will be able to choose from a comprehensive suite of courses according to their specific needs.

QA will also continue to deliver monthly webinars for Socitm members. These will focus on leadership areas to help members develop the skills and behaviours necessary to fulfil their leadership potential.

Former Socitm president Nadira Hussain has been appointed as the association's new director of leadership development and research, which will include leading the work of the Leadership Academy.

Hussain stepped down in March from Socitm's board of directors after seven years as a non-executive member. During her tenure as president in 2015-16, she set up the Women in IT initiative and was the creator of the EWDW programme, which has transformed the lives of many participants.

Hussain said, "I'm delighted to re-join the board of directors and lead the work of the Academy to support the development of compassionate, inclusive, and effective leaders at all levels. The Academy has achieved so much since it was established in 2015 to build better leaders for the digital world. I feel privileged to lead its next chapter, and I'm looking forward to working with colleagues across the Socitm community to ensure we continue developing great leaders who put citizens at the centre of everything they do."

Lisa Harrington, Managing Director at QA Learning, said, "QA is delighted to be partnering with Socitm, supporting such an exciting range of leadership programmes. We look forward to enabling the development of digital leadership capabilities in order for individuals to fulfil their potential and organisations to be successful in the modern world."

Registrations for all courses open on 01 November 2018.