Work of the Training and Development Directorate

Report: 8
Date: 20 October 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an overview of the work of the Training and Development Directorate. It addresses issues relating to training delivered both from within the Directorate resources and key deliverers elsewhere, both internally within the MPS and through Centrex.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. The Director of Training and Development is the professional head for all MPS training. Training provision relies on three basic sources: that which is provided from within the directorate (e.g. recruit, driver and extended police family training), that which is supplied by other MPS directorates/business groups (e.g. public order and firearms training) and that which is obtained from external providers, principally CENTREX. The director is responsible for the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of all training, irrespective of its source.

2. As head of profession, the director represents the MPS on strategic national bodies. These include the Police Training and Development Board, the decision making body for police training in England and Wales, Centrex Board and Skills for Justice. The MPS is unique amongst Home Office forces in having negotiated a permanent place on these bodies. Additionally, the director of HR has recently accepted an invitation to serve on the ACPO Personnel Management Business Area committee. The MPS is therefore well positioned to influence the direction of national initiatives but cannot dictate them.

3. A summary of the types of training, numbers of courses and costs associated with training is at Appendix 1. Appendix 2 deals with the Leadership Academy, a major service initiative. The dominant national issues affecting training are:

• The requirement to put in place a new, national programme for probationers, the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP). This is covered in Appendix 3.
• The requirements of the Race and Diversity Development Programme. Appendices 4-8 deal with other specific items raised in the commissioning brief.

C. Race and equality impact

Both the Leadership Academy and the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme have considerable positive implications for equality and diversity. The Leadership Academy will for the first time ensure that all MPS personnel, both police officers and police staff, will have access to appropriate management development and leadership training. The design and implementation of the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme provides a step change in its approach to community involvement in the early stages of police officers’ careers.

D. Financial implications

There are resource and financial implications associated with both the Leadership Academy and the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme. These implications are detailed in the respective appendices.

E. Background papers

• MPS Annual Costed Training Plan 2005/06

F. Contact details

Report author: Mike Harwood-Grayson, MPS.

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1

Types of Training, Training Volume and Costs

We are required to provide a breakdown of training using eight specific headings (HO1-8) for Home Office returns. In addition, we have found it useful to generate a further four headings for internal use. It is likely that the Home Office will employ these additional headings in future years.

The headings are shown below and the figures in brackets represent the number of student days allocated to each subject area for financial year 2005/06.

• HO1 – Driver and traffic training (47,576)
• HO2 – Crime training (49,472)
• HO3 – General police duties training (21,064)
• HO4 – Management development training (28,767)
• HO5 – Probationer training (281,149)
• HO6 – Firearms training (70,158)
• HO7 – Computers and communication training (47,543)
• HO8 – Other training (200,274)
• Health and safety training (108,077)
• Public order training (33,746)
• Personal development training (2872)
• Trainer training (9968)

The total training provision in student days is 900,667.

The cost of this training is £63,474,989 or £70.48 per student day. This compares with average commercial costs within the range of £250-300 per student day and a Centrex figure for charged courses of £120- £200 per student day.

The relationship between costs and student numbers can be complex. For example, a reduction in the recruiting target does not lead to a pro rata reduction in the costs of recruit training. Many of the overheads remain and have to be absorbed by fewer students. Furthermore, owing to the fact that post recruit training is spread over the whole probationary period, volume for that is not likely to show any reduction until the financial year following, while the impact on driver training may not be felt until year 3.

Appendix 2

Service Initiatives - The Leadership Academy (see supporting material)

Appendix 3

National Initiatives – the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme

Introduction

An Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies (HMIC) thematic report in 2001, 'Training Matters’, concluded that ‘‘The current programme is not wholly fit for purpose now, nor to support the police service of the twenty-first century”.

In response, a new national training programme has been developed in conjunction with the Home Office and other forces. The new Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) will change the way in which police recruits are trained. It is proposed that the existing 18-week course be altered to 31 weeks comprising of basic training being delivered centrally followed by development at satellite sites working in collaboration with B/OCUs and local communities. This curriculum is now being rolled-out across England & Wales. The new curriculum underpins Police Reform and is part of the Government’s modernisation programme.

All forces are required to migrate to the new package – some already have. The Home Office has set a timeline of March 2006 for full implementation. The MPS is not in a position to meet this target.

Work to date has provided a model within which the MPS can move to IPLDP, which has assessed resource and other implications. The next step will be to develop a full roll out plan. There will be a staged and managed change process to ensure there is no disruption to normal policing business.

Management Board and TP SCT have been asked to support the move to deliver IPLDP to all new student officers in the MPS.

Vision

The MPS proposes to deliver the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) at 15 training venues. A proposal has been submitted that identifies 12 locations. Research continues to identify the remainder.

Three sites are already delivering IPLDP. Implementation could continue from April 2006 and would take approximately 12-18 months, to complete during financial year 2007/8.

Race and equality impact

Evaluation has shown that student officers gain a far better understanding and cultural awareness within the communities they are about to police. Interaction with the public in a non-operational and non-confrontational arena means that race and diversity issues permeate every facet of the training and are dealt with realistically rather than in hypothetical constructs at Hendon. Additionally, the non-residential nature of the training has meant that a career in the MPS is a more attractive proposition to applicants with carer responsibilities.

The race and equality implications are further explored in Annex A.

Financial Implications

The financial implications of adopting the programme can be summarised as follows:

The building and equipment costs result from the need to provide training facilities on a devolved basis. The additional staffing costs result both from the different nature of the training and a requirement to meet minimum staff student ratios laid down in the IPLDP quality framework. It would not be possible to run an effective programme on lower staffing levels. Staff will migrate incrementally into the system as IPLDP rolls out across the Service. The figure for staff costs is based on full implementation with all cluster sites running at full capacity. This staffing level would be phased in over two financial years.

The identified offset costs are as follows:

• Remainder of Home Office grant in recognition of work undertaken by the MPS in connection with devising the programme - £210,000.
• Home Office grant to assist in associated set-up costs - £75,000.
• Savings resulting from ability to move the defined point of “completion of initial training” from week 18 (completion of Hendon under the current system) to week 31 (fit for independent patrol under the IPLDP) based on 1300 recruits - £748,000

Additionally, but not included in the offset costs, is the efficiency savings which will result from the vacation of recruit training residential accommodation. This is estimated at £479,000.

Annex A

Equality and diversity implications

Communities within the MPS are diverse, and effective local policing must reflect differences. The IPLDP helps to provide a more accessible and visible aspect to the Service by actively making our training transparent and open whilst encouraging members of the community to take part in the training of their officers. This is vital for increasing trust and confidence in policing.

The diversity and equality implications of the new programme are extremely positive, as it has mainstreamed diversity training in a way that could never be achieved at Hendon. This is in part due to the emphasis on community in the new syllabus, but also because diversity issues are no longer dealt with in isolation but embedded in the reality of policing. Examples include:

• Because of the early community interaction and links with established borough community groups, diversity training has not been seen in isolation but continually revisited during the course. For example, a visit to local Bangladeshi Community Centre in Camden, where officers were able to discuss stop and search issues with young Muslims and the effect of the heightened security around London.
• Whilst dealing with a burglary scenario at Pax Lodge (International Girl Guide Centre) Student Officers dealt with a member of staff who was visiting from Portugal and whose first language was not English. Although having to deal with a victim of a burglary, the students had to deal with the realistic scenario of communicating with someone who did not speak very good English, something that cannot be replicated at Hendon.
• Young student from Havering College (Multi-Cultural Student Union Officer) has taken part in the 16 students at Havering diversity training at Hendon and has subsequently become a Lay-contributor.
• Throughout the 31-week IPLDP curriculum the students are assessed continually to the National Occupational Standard 1A4 ‘Foster people’s equality, diversity and rights.
• Opportunity for community involvement in design, delivery and evaluation of the training of their officers. This has occurred at both Camden and Havering where the role-players (community members) have had the opportunity to be involved in debrief/feedback sessions.
• Students from Camden had an input by Hilary Wears (Chair of the Camden Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender group – (LGBT)). This included definitions of different sexual orientations, reasons for not reporting attacks to police and LGBT’s perceptions of the police.
• Students complete phase 2 in week 6 of the new programme. This entails being aligned to a Safer Neighbourhoods Team (SNT) neighbourhood where they are given a project that will link in with 2 weeks further on in the course. The project involves carrying out an Environmental Visual Audit and a Key Individual Networks (KIN) survey. This culminates in a presentation to the borough senior management team.
• The students are in uniform in the public gaze from week 7, carrying out controlled scenarios before going onto summative assessments weeks. This enables the students to gain more confidence in dealing with all members of the public.
• Many retail managers have agreed to allow their premises to be used as a realistic training site, for risk-assessed scenarios to be carried out. This now includes the shopping centre at Brent Cross.
• The Camden pilot has enabled a certain degree of flexibility for staff to combine study classes with childcare issues. For example, a member of staff working a 10 am–6 pm shift to allow students two hours extra study after work.
• A considerable amount of interest has been show in the non-residential option by female students.
• Greater opportunity for part-time working for staff.

Evaluation

The IPLDP community aspect has been evaluated centrally by the Home Office, through the services of the Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) and internally by the Training Standards Unit (TSU). Both bodies have yet to publish their final reports, yet their initial feedback has been very encouraging.

Both bodies have published interim reports and relevant extracts are detailed below.

‘Support for the new programme is generally very strong. Those directly involved are committed, enthusiastic and positive about its improvement on previous programmes. Many staff not directly involved are gaining confidence in the programme and beginning to recognise the benefits. However, there are growing tensions and concerns about the different attitudes and commitment from senior staff.'

Early indications demonstrate that the new programme contributes to student officers’ developing an appropriate view of police work and raising cultural awareness. Their early exposure to local communities appears to be a major influence, with particular reference to raising awareness of equality and diversity issues.

Community placements seen as a major step forward in developing student officers’ awareness of the local area.’ Report by the Adult Learning Inspectorate

And

'Community interaction is a fundamental philosophy that drives the IPLDP. It also supports the Home Office National Policing Plan 2004-07, the Citizen Focused Agenda and the current MPS priority of promoting reassurance, as laid down in the Policing and Performance Plan 2004 – 2005.

The National Policing Plan 2004-07 specifies one of its priorities as “Providing a citizen focused service to the public which responds to the needs of individuals and communities and inspires confidence in the police particularly amongst minority ethnic communities.” One of the themes underpinning the priorities is community engagement. The MPS is currently appraising the extent to which citizen focus is being considered in major corporate change programmes, such as the IPLDP, as these are areas in which the organisation is likely to be assessed against the Police Performance Assessment Framework (PPAF). The PPAF is an initiative led by the Home Office for developing a framework that assesses the performance of the police service that includes a method of establishing community views and perceptions of the police. Therefore, those involved in the development of the IPLDP should be mindful of the progress of the PPAF.

The response from members of the community who have had some involvement with the programme has been generally positive. Many have expressed a keen interest to be involved in the future. Much of the workplace-based learning has consisted of simulated exercises within the community environment. Examples include:

The use of Pax Lodge, an international Girl Guide hostel located within Hampstead. The centre welcomes affiliated members from 144 countries, who stay for periods of between 3 to 6 months as volunteers. The student officers undertook role-play exercises with those staying at Pax Lodge, who were the ‘victim’ of a residential burglary.

The use of Hampstead Heath to role-play incidents involving assault, criminal damage and harassment. Drama students aged 14 and 15 from Hampstead School were used to play the part of the suspect and victim.

The use of a number of local shops in Hampstead. These were used to role-play offences of theft, whilst the shops remained open to the public during the exercises.

Interacting with volunteers at the Girl Guide centre provided a number of challenges for the student officers. Two of the role-players spoke English as a second language, forcing the students to reassess their approach when dealing with them. Another girl had little trust in the integrity of the police, based upon her contact with police in her home country, and another stated that there was no community interaction with trainee police officers where she lives in Russia, and saw this as an exciting opportunity.

One of the shop managers felt this was a really positive step forward, adding that, notwithstanding any benefits to the student officers, the use of her shop had provided reassurance to her staff and customers. She also stated there had been a reduction in the number of theft incidents occurring in the shop.

The students felt they had benefited from the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in realistic surroundings. Many stated there were far more learning points from using a genuine setting, such as a public house, as opposed to the artificial environment of a classroom, because they had been able to contextualise the risks and had not been constrained by time limits that are imposed upon students at Hendon when engaged in assessed simulated exercises. They particularly enjoyed interacting with members of the community. ‘ Training Standards Unit -Interim report

Appendix 4

Course attendance levels

Internal corporate courses

Since the formation of the Training Standards Unit in April 2003, the number of courses centrally administered has increased by 22% and in 2004-05 accounted for over 32,500 course placements. This increase in centralised course administration has facilitated robust action to reduce wastage. This has resulted in a reduction of wastage figures from 8% to 5%.

It is likely that wastage will remain around 5%. Sickness, court attendance and operational exigencies are now the principal reasons for non-attendance. These factors will remain and the scope for further reduction is small. Nevertheless, the measures put in place to reduce wastage will remain in place. These include “naming and shaming”: each business group is regularly provided with a print of all their personnel who have not attended and the reason for non-attendance. Training Management Board is provided with the global list and can therefore monitor the performance by business group. This provides an added incentive for business groups to investigate each non-attendance at a local level and to ensure that the reasons given are genuine.

External courses

In April 2004, the Training Standards Unit absorbed responsibility for the central booking and management information of Centrex Training. This was previously a devolved function. Since taking on this responsibility, the team has increased MPS usage of Centrex courses by 350%. This is a direct result of more effective promotion of Centrex courses and providing a clear administrative process.

In April 2005, Centrex introduced a system whereby a full cost charge would be levied on forces that booked an individual on to a course and that individual, or an agreed replacement, failed to attend. The MPS put in place systems to ensure that this charge, if levied, would fall to the unit nominating the individual rather than the MPS as a whole. This has had an understandably positive effect on wastage figures for Centrex courses and we know of no instances where this charge has been levied.

Appendix 5

Costs per student day at Hendon

All MPS training is costed according to the National Costing Model for Training (NCMT). NCMT was initially introduced to the police service to enable comparability across all Home Office forces. It was developed in such a way that it is wholly compatible with the Activity Based Costing methodology used for other police functions.

The calculation of costs takes into account all overheads including staff, equipment, accommodation, consumables and associated costs. It does not take into account the cost of students since these costs are already taken into account in the Activity Based Costing of the parent unit and to do so would result in double accounting.

Because each course has a different set of costed variables including duration, class size and staff student ratio, the easiest comparator is cost per student day. The 2005/06 average cost per student day of training within the Directorate of Training and Development, Hendon, is £69. The range is from an average £39 for the Extended Policing Family School to an average of £167 per student day for driving courses. The relatively high cost of driving courses is explained by the fact that they rely on expensive equipment, utilise significant quantities of consumables and generally operate on a 1:3 staff: student ratio.

There are five training schools under the command of the Director of Training and Development. These are (average cost per student day in brackets):

• Recruit training (£54)
• Professional Development (dealing with post-recruit probation training) (£55)
• Extended Police Family (PCSOs, traffic wardens) (£39)
• Driver training (£167)
• Learning support (training for trainers) (£56)

The planned capacity of these schools for 2005/06 is 330,375 student days.

The Crime Academy is also based at Hendon, albeit under the direction of SCD rather than HR, and provides a further 79,055 student days training. The average cost per student day of this training is £73. Centrex provides some comparable courses through the National Centre for Policing Excellence. The average cost of Centrex courses varies according to the delivery centre and the nature of the training but typical charges are £120-£200 per student day.

Appendix 6

Links to other MPS providers

Apart from the Directorate of Training and Development, other key providers of MPS training are:

• The Crime Academy (SCD), responsible for the majority of crime training.
• The newly formed Leadership Academy, remaining within HR but bringing together all management and leadership training for both police officers and police staff within a unified department.
• The IT School, recently transferred to the Directorate of Information and responsible for training on technology-based systems.
• Central Operations, whose responsibilities include public order training, the Dog Training Establishment and Mounted Branch.
• Specialist Operations responsible for firearms training and other specialist skills required within that branch.
• Territorial Policing with responsibility for training on boroughs.

All major training providers are required to have a training board and the chair of each training board represents their interests on the corporate Training Management Board (TMB). TMB, chaired by the Director of HR, meets four times a year and deals with the strategic issues around training. This includes approval of the Annual Costed Training Plan, decisions on mandatory training and the prioritisation of training.

TMB also receives management information compiled by the Training Standards Unit on behalf of the Director of Training and Development and actively monitors the output of these providers against the Annual Plan. A further function of Training Management Board is to consider new corporate training proposals that will impact across business groups. For example, a proposal for formal, mandatory training in understanding and recognising mental illness has the potential to impose an additional training burden on all officers and staff who came into contact with the public. Such a proposal would not be accepted unless it was supported by a convincing business case showing that it was based on well-researched need and that it was a higher priority than other training competing for a place in the corporate programme.

The Training Standards Unit provides a secretariat function for Training Management Board and also provides an observer representative at each training board meeting. In this way, each training board has ready access to professional advice and guidance on matters of training policy and strategy while the Training Standards Unit also gains early awareness of emerging training issues.

Appendix 7

Marketing and communications

Prior to 2004, the MPS relied on a hard copy training prospectus. This was published twice yearly and issued to training managers. There were two major shortcomings with this approach. Firstly, and despite best efforts, it was invariably out of date. Secondly, since it was distributed only to training managers, it was not readily available to either line managers or the individuals who required training. The costs of production inhibited wider distribution.

During 2004, considerable effort was put into producing an electronic version of the prospectus. This has now been done and details of courses are available to all personnel via the MPS intranet. In addition, agreement was reached with Centrex to host the Centrex prospectus on the MPS intranet. Consequently, all MPS personnel now have ready access to details of both MPS and Centrex courses. A further advantage of this approach is that the course database is now searchable through key words whereas previously the exact title of courses needed to be known.

The course database is hosted on an intranet portal known as the Training Gateway. There is a wealth of information about training available on the MPS intranet but finding information can be a lengthy and frustrating process. The aim of the MPS Training Gateway is to provide a single starting point in that search for information and clear signposting to enable customers to find their way to their chosen destination as quickly as possible.

The Training Gateway site provides properly indexed links to other sites across the MPS and beyond with content relevant to training. This includes all training schools, latest news and a variety of publications that support training. It is aimed at those working within the field of training and those seeking to develop themselves or their staff.

The final area of marketing and communications is the establishment of an intranet based training forum. This is a recent innovation, hosted by the Director of Training and Development on a quarterly basis, and allows any member of the MPS to ask questions related to training. This allows an exceptional opportunity for customer feedback and, since a wide audience reads responses, provides an opportunity for the Director of Training and Development to communicate across the organisation.

Appendix 8

Quality assurance

Quality assurance of training takes a number of forms and is mainly centred on:

• Collation and analysis of management information
• Training reviews
• Evaluation

At a corporate level, the Training Standards Unit carries out these activities but quality assurance remains a responsibility of all training managers as well.

Management information

The Training Standards Unit collects key performance data on training activities. Examples include measuring progress against the training plan, customer satisfaction with training content and staff, the extent to which trainer assessments are carried out in accordance with policy and the extent to which training is being evaluated. This data is collated on a quarterly basis and discussed at Training Management Board.

Training reviews

On site reviews of training units were introduced in 2004. The aim is to review all training units on a periodic basis, however the initial selection of units to be reviewed was based on prioritisation criteria. These criteria included high cost training, failure to respond to requests for routine management information and other evidence of poor planning. Proposals for review are presented to Training Management Board for approval at six monthly intervals.

The methodology employed in the reviews is based on that used by the HMIC inspection process. A pre-visit questionnaire is issued and this is followed up by a reality check. The resulting recommendations form the basis for an improvement plan and progress against this is monitored. The review reports are published on the MPS intranet and therefore available to all.

Evaluation

The MPS maintains an evaluation team within the Training Standards Unit. This team undertakes detailed training evaluations at the behest of key stakeholders. An underlying principle is that the sponsor of the evaluation must have sufficient authority to be able to implement the recommendations made.

The annual capacity of the unit is:

• 16 long-term projects (average 50 days to complete);
• 12 medium-term projects (average 10 days to complete); and
• 34 short-term projects (1-3 days to complete).

An evaluation plan is presented to Training Management Board for approval every 6 months. Completed evaluations are published on the MPS intranet.

The Evaluation Team also conduct evaluation reviews to support individual training units to fulfil their obligations in meeting the MPS evaluation strategy. These reviews are often carried out concurrently with training reviews in order to minimise the disruptive impact on training units.
 

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