The National School of Government (NSG) is to close next year, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude revealed last week.

The NSG will continue to provide training until 31 March 2012, when Civil Service Learning (CSL), the new co-ordinating organisation for training, will have appointed commercial partners to provide common learning and development across the civil service.

CSL’s director Jerry Arnott told CSW that the organisation is already providing various training products through an online portal that has been rolled out to around 60 per cent of departments, and he expects to confirm a partner for the provision of e-learning courses “imminently”.

The procurement process for delivery of other elements of the curriculum will begin shortly, he said, with results in the New Year.
Maude emphasised that civil service training is set to shift from “expensive residential and classroom-based training” to “work-based approaches including e-learning” that “directly involve managers in the training process”.

Arnott explained that line managers will be “supporting the learning opportunities in the workplace, providing coaching for their staff” and leading by example.

To support this, CSL will launch a “very comprehensive management development programme” in the New Year, he said. This will “cover all levels of management across the civil service” and involve both face-to-face and e-learning elements.

The NSG’s Sunningdale headquarters are run under a PFI deal and will continue to operate as a commercial training venue; breaking the deal could cost £30m.

NSG chief executive Rod Clark told CSW that the government had looked at combining the procurement process for new training suppliers with disposal of the Sunningdale site, but that has proved too complex.

Clark indicated that there’s a chance of “some sort of commercial spin off” following the school’s closure. Asked if this might involve a staff-led mutual, Clark said: “That’s the sort of thing we’re considering, but it’s very much early days.”

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Written by CSW