High-flying civil servants who completed a grueling course to prepare them for top posts were honoured at a graduation ceremony at Camden last night.

The Leadership by Design course equipped the 15 candidates for Permanent Secretary and Director positions.

A trend analysis showed that those are jobs that will need more people to fill them over the next few years as the civil service expands.

The participants were earmarked as those with the motivation and skills to complete a 12 month programme gaining them a strategic management certificate from the Chartered Management Institute.

They were: Jennifer Attride-Stirling, Dr. Judith Bartley, Lawrence Brady, Kyril Burrows, Cindy Clarke, Sita Ingram, Keeva-Mae Joell-Benjamin, Tracey Kelly, David Kendell, Stephen Lowe, Danny Simmons, Lee Sylvester, Dianna Taylor, Lauren Trott and Heather Whalen.