Cost of training public sector staff reduced

Organisations across the public sector are set to make big savings on the cost of training and developing their staff.

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has laid out a new Managed Learning Services agreement which is predicted to save the public sector around £30 million, with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) set to receive more than half of the total investment.

Managed Learning Services allows public bodies, including government departments, local councils, NHS Trusts and the emergency services, to procure training courses and services from general interest subjects like data protection to more specialist training, getting the best deal got public bodies as they upskill their staff.

The single supplier framework has been awarded to Capita, who have guaranteed that over half of the spend will be subcontracted through smaller, specialist training providers, helping to ensure that SMEs can benefit from working with the public sector.

Benefits brought about by the framework include: greater choice and flexibility to suit individual needs; transparent pricing with a simple structure enabling public sector bodies to only pay for what they use; bigger savings; and a continuously developed catalogue of public sector commonly required courses.

The framework agreement will run for three years with the option of extending by another year.