Government Skills

Search

Essential Skills nominated for a Civil Service Award

28 October 2008

Congratulations and good luck to those shortlisted for a Civil Service Award in category for HR, Learning and Development Award:

• Health & Safety e-learning, Valuation Office
• Developing National Emergency Resilience in the UK, Fire Service College
• Centre for Applied Learning Supports Reform Agenda, Northern Ireland Civil Service

The Northern Ireland Civil Service is undergoing major reform to improve service delivery.

The Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) as an employer ran a pilot Essential Skills (Skills for Life) programme in 2007, which transformed the futures of 300 support grade staff providing messenger, security and reception services for NICS buildings. The reform initiative, Workplace 2010, meant these staff needed to develop new skills to give them greater flexibility and more chance of successful redeployment.

The pilot, supported by Government Skills, provided staff with a comprehensive package of training covering IT, communication, literacy and numeracy. These essential skills opened up different career pathways for people, helping them to move from support grades to administrative roles.

Over three quarters of the eligible staff applied for lateral transfer and most of them benefited from the training. The success rate in terms of those selected for redeployment is close to 100 per cent.

The winners in each of the 13 award categories will be announced on the 26 November 2008 at the award ceremony.

Shortlisted nominees for the Civil Service Awards 2008 [External website]

Evaluation report of Essential Skills pilot