Our focus on developing the talent of our current and future business leaders has moved forward with the launch of our developing future leaders programme for senior managers, around 75 of whom will be invited to participate in 2009.

We have also launched a foundations of leadership programme for first line leaders and supervisors. It was launched in April with a one day orientation of managers of first line leaders so that they are better prepared to support their supervisors’ development. The first training for about 200 front line leaders followed in May and focused on understanding how our business operates and makes money, in addition to understanding the critical behaviours of motivating and managing teams of individuals toward higher levels of performance. The future leaders programme launched in May with a focus on enhancing business acumen and the demonstration of our leadership qualities.

We continue to invest in the recruitment and development of skilled employees for the future, recruiting 184 advanced apprentices, 58 foundation engineers and 30 graduates in the UK. In addition, we are currently reviewing our US approach to bring it into line with our UK efforts. These programmes are designed to facilitate the entrance into National Grid and the training and progression of talented people, with special emphasis on key engineering roles.

Through our e-futures strategy, we continue to organise and sponsor a number of educational initiatives in the UK. These initiatives continue to increase the number and diversity of young people interested in engineering careers and, ultimately, create and sustain a greater pool of skilled talent from which we can recruit. Key to this success has been the dedicated involvement of our employees.