Thematic report on learning and development

245. Overall responsibility for managing the administration functions of Learning and Development Division lies with the Head of Learning and Development. Day to day responsibility is delegated to the Office Manager. The Office Manager and his staff populate training calendars, provide delegates with joining instructions, arrange overnight accommodation when necessary, update records of attendance, liaise with staff and managers and manage the day to day running of the College including setting up equipment in rooms, arranging seminars, keeping stationery up to date, approving invoices and travel and subsistence claims etc. Desk instructions are available for most administrative processes as well as desk aids which are useful to staff as a quick reference. It was found that in the main there were adequate procedures for the administrative functions within Learning and Development as described below.

Training Calendar

246. The Head of Learning and Development Division and the Learning and Development Division Manager identify what courses will be held in the future. This is based on a number of factors such as:

• What has gone before
• Rolling induction programmes
• Anticipated new courses based on new or changing legislation, procedures or systems and other matters highlighted in discussions with senior managers

247. This information is passed to the Office Manager who checks availability of facilities and populates a training calendar.

248. We were advised that trainers are not always consulted when the calendar is being created and occasionally changes have to be made afterwards, for example, the new 'Coaching' course had to be fitted in around what was already slotted in. Similarly other courses such as 'Competency Framework' were allocated at short notice and arrangements have to be made to fit these in. We also learned of an occasion when a course ¹³ was added to the calendar but none of the trainers knew who was responsible for the course or indeed that it required to be developed.

Recommendation - That all trainers are consulted in the creation of the Learning and Development Calendar.

249. The training calendar is created at the same time as the following year's budget given that financial resources are based on what requirements are likely to be (see also 'Learning Needs Analysis' in Chapter 3 and 'Finance' in Chapter 7). As a result a calendar is created 12 to 15 months in advance. The current calendar was set in October 2009 and details course availability up to March 2011. This is reviewed informally throughout the period.

250. As part of our inspection we visited the Scottish Police College and the Crown Prosecution Service Learning and Development Division. Although both these organisations review national learning priorities annually they also review learning needs more frequently and have shorter programmes of courses. For example, the Scottish Police College plan their prospectus six months in advance. This allows for planning that meets more current needs and considers recruitment, retirement, succession planning etc.

251. Similarly the Crown Prosecution Service Learning and Development Division set annual national priorities and review these quarterly. As part of quarters two and four they consider their Group Learning and Training needs which, amongst other sources of information, are informed through personal development reviews. Budgets and resources are also considered at these times. They have recently introduced a comprehensive learning and development planning cycle.

252. Within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service personal development plans ¹⁴ should be discussed with staff twice a year as part of the appraisal system therefore it may be of value for Learning and Development Division to review their training prospectus around these times. Greater compliance with these arrangements might allow for a more focussed approach and may also negate issues surrounding short notice allocation of work, as described above, and the need to cancel courses (see below at Course Cancellations).

Recommendation - That Learning and Development Division formally review their training prospectus/calendar biannually to take account of immediate learning needs which can be informed through personal development plans and any new courses that have been developed.

253. The training calendar is posted on the Learning and Development intranet page and also on 'What's New' on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service intranet to which all staff have access. There is also communication from Learning and Development staff to Area Training Co-ordinators to advise staff of spaces on courses. Another method of communicating Learning and Development issues including course availability is through the Bulletin ¹⁵. Information contained in this news sheet is passed on to staff at Team Briefings.

254. Recognising that the timetabling of courses on the same day or days on each occasion might exclude individuals who work part-time efforts were made to avoid this. For example with the 'Competency Based Interviewing' and 'Advocacy' courses the calendar was altered so that the course did not always take place on the same day(s) of the week.

Course Scheduling

255. Learning and Development course schedule spreadsheets for all courses are created and maintained by the administrative team in Learning and Development. The number of delegates for each course is determined by the course developer. There are no expected minimum or maximum days training per person.

256. Figures received from Learning and Development Division showed that 828 days training were delivered (430 by legal Trainers; 398 by Training Consultants) during period 1 March 2009 to 28 February 2010 ¹⁶. For this period we were advised that 943 employees attended courses totalling 3164.5 days and averaging at 3.3 days per employee. There are approximately 1700 members of staff in the whole of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and we therefore conclude that some staff did not receive any training during this period.

257. When an application is received the course schedule is checked to ascertain if there are spaces and if so the person's details are added. If the course has reached capacity an e-mail is issued to advise of future dates and the name is added to the reserve list. If accepted on a course an e-mail is issued to the person advising that they have a place. It is expected that the delegate will advise their line manager that they have been accepted on the course, but there is no direct contact between Learning and Development Division and the delegate's line manager. As discussed in Chapter 1 the importance of the line manager's role in the training and learning and development of their staff is crucial.

Recommendation - That Learning and Development advise the line manager of each delegate's acceptance on a course.

258. Although applications forms do not specifically seek information about special assistance requirements, the confirmation e-mail to staff indicating they have been accepted on the course does so. Attempts are made to accommodate needs, eg providing an electronic note taker for someone who has hearing problems, etc. In our staff survey we asked if special assistance was required while attending a course. Only 1 from 59 said yes and the response was:

• "As a type 1 diabetic I have to eat mid morning and afternoon. Often no biscuits are provided with coffee but I always bring my own anyway." (Q12, 59)

259. It is noted that wherever possible Learning and Development Division will take steps to make arrangements for specific needs of staff as long as they are advised of these needs.

260. Joining instructions (and any required pre-course reading details) are e-mailed to staff eight weeks prior to a course commencing. The e-mail includes information on the aims, objectives and expected outcomes of the course, time, date, location. The delegate has to either accept or decline the offer and on acceptance of the invite to attend the date is automatically saved in the delegate's calendar and the Learning and Development course schedule is updated.

261. If the offer is declined the reason is sought and confirmed with the Area Business Manager. A cancellation notice will be sent, the person is deleted from the course schedule and the 'course withdrawal' folder is updated. The personnel management system ( KCS) is then updated to record attendance and withdrawals from courses. This is a particular area that is monitored (see Course Withdrawals below).

262. As part of our staff survey we asked whether adequate information on the aims, objectives and expected outcomes of the course was provided. 51 (or 86%) from 59 respondents indicated that they were provided with adequate information and 50 (or 85%) indicated that this information was given in sufficient time to prepare for the course. The remainder did not specify.

Course Withdrawals

263. We learned that concerns had been expressed both in Learning and Development Division and at senior management level within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service about the number of staff withdrawing from courses. Withdrawals had an impact in terms of additional administrative time as well as potentially making the course unviable and subject to late cancellation. A specific example cited to us was Sexual Offences training where additional dates were added to capture staff who had withdrawn from courses. Training therefore covered a longer period than expected.

264. We understand that course withdrawals are being monitored, reported to the Deputy Chief Executive and discussed at senior management meetings eg Area Business Manager meetings. Figures relating to this show a substantial number (65) withdrew from courses in January 2010 but this dropped to 24 in February and 27 in March.

265. At the Learning and Development Steering Group meeting in May 2010 it was noted that there had been 26 (or 18%) withdrawals from 145 scheduled to attend in April 2010. Nine (or 34%) of the 26 that withdrew cited work commitments as the reason.

266. As part of our staff survey we asked whether staff had to cancel attendance at a training event and if so what was the reason. Fourteen (or 24%) from 59 responses indicated that they had to cancel attendance. Example responses are as follows:

• "On one occasion it became apparent that cover could not be provided….; on another I was required to complete an urgent report ….." (Q17, 7)
• "I had asked to attend at a course that I later considered was not suitable for me and asked to withdraw on that basis." (Q17, 25)
• "Pressure of business." (Q17, 31)
• "Heavy workload." (Q17, 38)
• "This happened more than once. On each occasion it was to do with pressure of business, and concerned a particularly sensitive case where only I could deal with it for various complicated reasons (Q17, 55)

267. We also asked line managers to comment on this issue. We received 25 responses of which only three (or 12%) indicated that they had refused attendance. Example responses for those who did are as follows:

• "Staff have put themselves on training without consultation and the training is not relevant to the job they are doing or related to the career path they wish pursue." ( LM/Q8, 11)
• "On two occasions that I recall, due to pressure of business …. Except in extreme circumstances as above we try to do everything to avoid withdrawal." ( LM/Q8, 23)

268. Further to this we asked line managers whether they had been aware of staff cancelling attendance. Five (or 20%) from 25 indicated they were aware of this. Example responses are as follows:

• "Various reasons for cancelling however they are all sent via myself and I make the decision as to whether or not it is reasonable for them not to attend." ( LM/Q9, 11)
• "I would only allow staff to cancel training if they had a very good reason." ( LM/Q9, 12)
• "Due to their work commitments." ( LM/Q9, 21)

269. If there are many withdrawals the administrative team in Learning and Development Division will try to fill spaces from waiting lists or will advertise on 'What's New' of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service intranet or contact Area Co-ordinators to advice of spaces. On occasion courses have to be cancelled or re-scheduled because of the number of withdrawals, a recent example being 'Presenting with Impact'. This last course was on offer from an external provider but on that occasion, as a gesture of goodwill, no charge was levied.

270. Staff attending courses is seen as valuable by both the individuals and line managers, however, it is clear from monitoring and from our surveys that pressure of business does have an impact on whether attendance can go ahead.

271. Although by far the main reason given for non attendance was work commitments, there were a number of other factors cited including taking annual leave and, most concerning, simply forgetting to attend. We believe that notification to the line manager of the date allocated for training (as recommended above) ought to have an impact on all of the categories of non attendance.

272. We note that this issue is being carefully monitored at senior management level and therefore make no further recommendation in this regard.

Course Cancellations

273. Learning and Development Division advised that 16 courses were cancelled during period 1 March 2009 to 28 February 2010. We were informed that all were cancelled due to insufficient numbers. Six were one day courses, nine were two day courses and one was a three day course therefore a total of 27 days were cancelled as follows:

274. In these circumstances administrative staff make the trainers aware of insufficient numbers and the decision to cancel is made either by their Training Manager or the Legal Training Manager. Although we did not specifically ask a question in relation to courses being cancelled in our line manager survey, one manager did indicate that:

• "… training courses which they were due to attend have been cancelled, ……, which is very inconvenient." ( LM/Q9, 13)

275. Further to this a comment was made in our survey:

• "… As staff are cut and increasingly stretched in the coming years the difficulties with making staff available for courses and last minute call offs are only going to rise …." (Q33, 31)

276. Given that there was a need to cancel the above courses we believe it may be more beneficial to work on a shorter more focussed training programme (as explained above at 'Training Calendar'). This would help ensure that needs of the time are considered, for example, retirements, possibility of reductions in staff in the current economic climate, etc.

Attendance

277. Each morning administrative staff are responsible for ensuring that individuals scheduled to attend a course have turned up. If someone does not arrive they will make enquiries with line managers to ascertain whether the delegate intends to be there. In the event of non appearance their name is deleted from the course and added to the 'course withdrawal' spreadsheet. An entry is also made in KCS system to this effect.

278. For those who do turn up their attendance is updated on the KCS system. At present there is no measurement of course take up. As part of our inspection we visited the Police College at Tulliallan to compare approaches. Here they have a specific target to meet 90% attendance and this is monitored. We also visited the Crown Prosecution Service Learning and Development Division and note that they have monthly activity reports which include uptake of e-learning and take up of national programmes at group ¹⁸ level and percentage of places filled and uptake of e-learning at national level. Such information might be of assistance in future training calendar planning.

Event Reports (Evaluation)

279. On the day of the course delegates are asked to complete an evaluation form. These are collected and put together by administrative staff in an 'Event Report' which is saved in the shared drive and passed to trainers to check the results. This report details an analysis of results along with any comments that are made. The Head of Learning and Development, the Principal Depute and Training Managers also receives copies of these.

280. The purpose of the reports is to help develop the course to meet the needs of the users although trainers indicated that this initial evaluation usually does not tell them much and generally the reports are filed in the folder with the course materials without need for any action.

281. Learning and Development Division have recently procured 'Survey Monkey', an online tool that helps to conduct, manage and analyse surveys. We have been advised that this has been used for evaluation of one course. We consider that this may prove to be a more efficient use of administrative resources. However, this will require to be monitored.

Workstream Progression Plans

282. Workstream Progression Plans are e-mailed to Legal Trainers and Training Consultants for completion on a monthly basis. This allows them to fill in target dates and details of progress and helps line managers and other staff know the stage of work. The Office Manager arranges them into one document and passes this to the Head of Learning and Development.

283. In a similar vein forms ABCD ( Achieved, Benefits, Concerns, Do next) are completed monthly by the legal and training managers to provide a snapshot of work and a quick synopsis of all training activity to encourage them to think ahead. These are also forwarded to the Head of Learning and Development Division and Director of HR for monitoring purposes.

284. We reviewed a selection of Workstream Progression Plans and found them to be informative whilst the ABCD forms were perhaps less so.

Learning and Development Home Page

285. The Learning and Development home page IDEAL ( Information , Development, Education And Learning) on the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service intranet provides Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service staff with links to a variety of learning and development information as follows:

286. By clicking on each of the bubbles on the intranet more information is available, for example, FAQ details information on a variety of issues such as booking and cancelling a course, getting to Scottish Prosecution College, overnight accommodation, etc.

287. Responses from staff questionnaire in relation to communication are:

• "The intranet is the primary tool." (Q7, 7)
• "Regular bulletins appear either on the homepage or an e-mail is sent." (Q7, 12)
• "I regularly look on the intranet where anything new is shown." (Q7, 51).

288. We consider that IDEAL is a useful communication tool and along with other methods of communication eg 'What's New', Bulletin, etc. Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service staff know what is current in Learning and Development. We did note, however, that it was not easy to find out who lead trainers were for specific courses or who contacts are for each of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Areas.

289. We also noted that there was a lack of information relating to line manager and individual responsibilities concerning learning and development on IDEAL. This information was found in the Staff Handbook ¹⁹.

Recommendation - That, for ease of access, responsibilities showing Learning and Development contacts for each Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Area and lead trainers for each course are added to IDEAL. Similarly responsibilities of managers and individuals concerning learning and development (as described in the Staff Handbook) could be placed here.

Learning Management System

290. The personnel management system ( KCS) provides information support for decision making in Learning and Development Division. It can be used to enter updates of attendance, withdrawals, etc and parameters can be set for reports to be generated. Only Learning and Development administrative staff have access to the training section of this system. They have no access to personal information. The KCS administrator gives access permissions and sets new codes for courses and the system requires Learning and Development staff to enter a user name and password to access it.

291. The Office Manager sets aside two days to train new staff on the use of KCS. At the time of our inspection full desk instructions on use of KCS were not available but the Office Manager planned to create these.

292. Various reports can be generated to aid the efficiency of the Learning and Development function:

• New Entrants - this report is printed once a week and details of new employees are entered onto Learning and Development spreadsheets for 'Corporate Induction ²⁰' and 'Diversity'. Once delegates have attended the 'Diversity' course this spreadsheet is updated and if after some time it becomes known that a person has not attended then efforts are made to arrange their attendance. This particular course should be completed within two months of start dates but no formal monitoring is carried out to ensure this is done. In respect of the 'Induction' course the spreadsheet is a record of who has been invited to carry out the e-learning but line managers are expected to monitor this locally. See Chapter 5 where we recommend changes to induction processes.
• Individual Learning Records - Learning and Development staff can extract records of all training done by an individual. This type of report is especially used by the Principal Depute in Learning and Development when assessing a Depute's competence for certification purposes.
• List of staff in certain grades - eg identifying all Band C, etc. This is used for particular programmes aimed at certain staff grades eg Management, Precognition, etc.
• Course withdrawals
• Attendance

293. We were advised that the KCS is not particularly user-friendly in that the system will not stop a search if a detail has been entered wrongly eg asking it to find Band B staff in an existing report type when the request should have been Band C. The system will continue the search.

294. KCS is not used for scheduling courses and booking individuals on courses even though this facility is available. These are currently done on Excel spreadsheets. As a result two different systems are being used, for example, when an individual wishes to withdraw from a course an action has to be taken in the appropriate Excel spreadsheet and also in the KCS system. This duplication of effort appears to be inefficient.

295. As part of our inspection we visited the Crown Prosecution Service Learning and Development Division in York. They showed us their HR system ( TRENT) and their KIM (Knowledge Information Management) system. Learning activities such as scheduling, booking courses, generating reports are all performed on TRENT. It does have a self serve facility but this has yet to be rolled out. The KIM system allows staff to log on and carry out 'Quick Learns' which may be e-learning to improve skills. There are also 'Community' workspaces on this system which has discrete work groups and allows Learning and Development Division to update specific groups. Here mentors can also upload information eg guidance to discrete groups.

296. Within the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service a new HR management system ( SNOWDROP) is under consideration. The Office Manager provided a paper to management on the practices currently performed on the KCS system and the associated time these practices take. The report did not include recommendations for change.

297. It is hoped within Learning and Development Division that a new learning management system will allow staff to 'self serve' (ie book themselves onto courses) and address issues such as duplication as described above along with inclusion of other features such as automatic reminders to staff, advising line managers of arrangements, etc resulting in a more efficient and effective system. It is also hoped that use can be made of a 'Shared Point' facility that may become available through the new Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service IT system, PHOENIX. This would allow Learning and Development Division to create shared learning communities such as those described above, keeping groups of people up to date with current news and allowing forum discussion.

298. We were advised that the Scottish Government has a system for booking courses and that enquiries will be made to identify if Learning and Development Division could procure this for a reasonable price.

299. Either way, whether procuring the Scottish Government system or utilising the learning management function of the SNOWDROP system it is considered that administrative efficiencies will result. As we concluded our inspection the Head of Learning and Development Division was tasked with taking this forward along with identifying requirements for use of a 'Shared Point' facility in the new IT system.

Administration of New Courses

300. Learning and Development staff advised that much more administrative and assessment work had been created with the introduction of new courses such as the Institute of Leadership and Management ( ILM) 'Certificate in First Line Management ( CFLM)' course and the 'Certificate in Prosecution Studies'. Dealing with additional duties and last minute requests for training such as Competency Framework had an impact on other work. Some staff told us that they were working longer hours and taking work home as a result.

301. Although managers in Learning and Development Division were aware of the increased workload current budget arrangements did not allow for additional staff.

Conclusions

302. The administration team in Learning and Development Division perform many functions. In the main our review found there were adequate procedures in place. However, we have made some recommendations that should aid efficiency.

303. The introduction of a new learning management system and increased use of the online survey tool should help alleviate duplication of work.

304. We encourage Learning and Development Division to formally review their training prospectus twice a year to take account of immediate needs which may help reduce withdrawals and cancellation of courses.