Lancashire has the same management problems as anywhere else. How do we get more women into senior management posts? How do we get more people from ethnic minority groups into management posts? How do we get more people with a disability into employment with us? And, in an effort to tackle these problems, we have adopted tried and tested means.

We monitor recruitment in terms of gender, race and disability. We set targets based on local population profiles. We provide staff and managers with awareness training. And we give equality and diversity a high profile within the directorate. But something has been missing. The policies and strategies are right but progress has been disappointingly slow. We think the missing ingredient is leadership.