Public servants and training

John

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John

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on Monday 17th November. Please note that the LGA are not covered by the provisions of the Act, but we always try to deal with such requests in the spirit of the legislation.

There are no specific rules, codes of practice or legislation covering public servants and training. However there is a commitment to training staff laid down in national agreements on pay and conditions of service. For example, the National Conditions of Service for Local Government Employees says that training and development of employees should form an integral part of the process by which the National Joint Council's (NJC) guiding principles should be translated. [The NJC is made up of representatives of local government employers and the relevant trade unions.] 'Lifetime learning', which is one of the key provisions, requires employers to be open to new ideas.

Councils often call courses 'personal development' when the courses are about interpersonal skills which are vital work skills, for example in achieving good customer care. The heading 'personal development' may also cover courses where staff are given career development opportunities, to help them move into higher level posts e.g. professional posts, management posts, leadership posts. We encourage councils to create 'career pathways' to support their staff in developing higher level skills so that the sector can fill more senior posts (most of the skills shortages in local government are in professional posts and we want to encourage enough people to come forward for more senior positions.)

The NJC encourages authorities to invest in developing their workforces, including in areas that could be called 'personal development' such as developing skills for life. The NJC's approach fits with the government's strong encouragement to all employers to invest in their employees' skills to help to secure the UK's future prosperity.

Given a fast changing world, people need to keep learning all their lives to keep up. There is much evidence that some people have blocks about learning (for example if they have had bad experiences at school) so some leading employers, including some public sector ones, may encourage their employees to undertake learning that might not be seen as immediately relevant to their work, in order to encourage them to feel more confident about learning and so more prepared for learning to take on new tasks or to work in new ways in their employment.

In the latest Local Government Workforce Survey, which Local Government Analysis and Research (LGAR) recently published, it was found that the average local government worker received just 1.4 days of 'off the job' training last year, at an average cost of £215 per person.

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Local Government Association

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