08.05.08
Building Professional Skills for Government
Building Professional Skills for Government – a strategy for delivery is the title of the new skills strategy for government launched in April at Civil Service Live. This skills strategy sets out for the first time a collective set of skills development priorities that employers in central government are committed to addressing, says Brigid Feeny
The key themes of the strategy around which action is planned are:
• professional standards, which sees an enhanced role for professions in driving forward the Professional Skills for Government (PSG) programme;
• common action, which is about driving more coordination on learning and development between departments to deliver better value for money and learn from each other;
• influencing higher and further education, which will see Government Skills work with these sectors to strengthen skills within the talent pool from which we recruit our future workforce.
The Skills Strategy, as the title suggests, recognises the firm foundations that have been put in place over the previous three years through the PSG competency framework.
When this framework was launched in 2005, it set out, for the first time and in some detail, an agreed approach to skills development, challenging the way we think about careers and career development in the Civil Service. In particular, it has sought to challenge the notion that some of us are specialists and some are generalists and to start to define all roles as having professional skills attached to them. This included establishing professional groups for operational and policy delivery which cover the vast majority of civil servants. In the last three years, a lot of work has gone into driving forward the framework and this article will report some of the most recent developments.
The PSG competency framework aims to equip all civil servants with the skills they need to meet the present and future needs of the Civil Service. There remain four dimensions of equal importance to the framework: professional skills, leadership, core skills and broader experience. The model has been agreed by permanent secretaries and has been endorsed each time it has been discussed.
Who is the PSG competency framework for?
One of the early preconceptions about the PSG competency framework was that it appeared to be aimed solely at more senior staff in the Senior Civil Service and Grade 7. Initially, the approach for rolling out the framework for staff was delegated to departments to implement. But a review of progress raised some concerns about this approach particularly on the point about parity of standards between departments and there has been general agreement that a more coordinated approach is needed. So Government Skills has developed and is in the process of finalising a common menu of skills for staff below Grade 7 and they will need to ensure that their own skills strategies incorporate the PSG competency framework reflect this by 2012. This menu is based on National Occupational Standards and covers:
• analysis and use of evidence
• communications
• customer service
• finance
• IT
• knowledge and information management
• people management
• people and project management
Broader experience
The principle of broader experience is a part of the PSG competency framework because of the recognition that everyone within, and aspiring to, the SCS is encouraged to gain experience of more than one career grouping. For those at board level the expectation is that individuals will already have experience of working in more than one profession. Civil servants at all other levels are encouraged to develop an understanding of the ‘broader’ work of government and their departments should support and facilitate this wherever possible. But this has been an area where it has proved important to move beyond a ‘one size fits all’ approach. In autumn 2007, it was agreed that the criteria for broader experience should be developed by each profession, meaning a more tailored approach to this issue will be in evidence shortly. One of the areas where criteria have already been agreed is policy delivery.
A stronger role for professions
The future will also see more of a focus on what professions we all belong to. For those who have belonged to one of the traditional professions this will be nothing new. But for many who are employed in either operational or policy delivery, this will be a significant change. Government Skills will be providing secretariat support to head of professions for both these professions in order to:
• develop, where needed, new standards for the skills required at different levels in each profession;
• engage with departmental HR teams on data and skills issues;
• do workforce planning to inform planning around the future shape size skills required and reward strategy adopted;
• set criteria for broader experience.
This strengthened role of professions will help us to understand more about where the skills needs are particular to a profession and where they are a common issue. It should also help to ensure that there is a process for ensuring that skills standards are in place across all professions. There is continuing emphasis on using national occupational standards and ensuring that the right qualifications and provision are in place to support development of staff within each profession. The first 18 months to two years of Skill Strategy implementation will be in place on getting the supporting arrangements for this work focus.
Common action
The Skills Strategy recognises that employers can benefit from working together on common skills and save money by buying learning and development products together. We already know that a number of departments have resources in the shape of existing contracts or in-house provision that they can offer to others. Further benefits will result from sharing current good practice and new approaches to tackling particular needs. The role Government Skills has given itself is to identify common skills needs, conduct needs analysis and support departments in procuring the learning and development products together to achieve cost savings.
Higher/further education
New groups will be established by Government Skills to bring together employers and higher and further education bodies. The strategy recognises that in the past, our sector has not focused on influencing what skills people develop before they come to work for us. This strand will see us looking to influence the content of degrees or masters programmes. We are also developing a diploma for 14-19 year olds.
What does all this mean for you?
The Skills Strategy will help all to be clearer about professional standards for roles, regardless of work and about how to focus development around these. It will provide a sharper focus for career development and should lead to greater options for developing our skills and experience. The Skills Strategy will help all civil servants to be clearer.
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