The World cup may have kicked off this week but all the talk in Manchester was about communications at the inaugural Public Sector Communications Academy.

by Darren Caveney

I’m a little biased, but I thought that this was the best Academy I’ve attended and the collaboration with central government added a welcome extra dot-joining and learning dimension.

For many communications pros it is becoming harder and harder to get to events like this one. But I believe that it’s never been more important to continue to learn, to expand and to share.

That’s what’s so great about Government Director of Communications, Alex Aiken’s drive to invest in government comms people and their development – it is setting a tone and direction which other parts of the public sector can point to in their own organisational fights for investment in up-skilling.