"The centre will be a buyer and a commissioner of courses from third parties and work with local authorities in a diagnostic role," said Joe Simpson, who is in charge of sourcing courses.

They will be looking for small suppliers of high-quality courses and programmes, as well as major training firms such as Capita.

"Improved leadership should boost local authority ratings awarded by the Audit Commission under the Comprehensive Performance Assessment scheme," said Simpson.

The centre was created earlier this year after interviews with chief executives, national bodies and course providers.

Nearly 80 per cent backed an agency to raise the quality of government civil service leadership.