Ref No.: 06 24
Request Type: FOI
Date Received: 14/05/24
Date Responded: 10/06/24
Category: Staff training
Request
Please can you provide the amount of expenditure on staff training for each financial year from 2013/14 through to 2023/24?
For any expenditure greater than £1,000 can you please detail the job titles and number of staff who undertook the training, where the training was delivered, who provided the training (ie university, college, external company) what the qualification achieved (if any) was and how long the training took.
If the qualification involved travel and other expenses can you also provide the costs of these too.
Response
We have handled your request in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). FOISA provides for a right of access to recorded information held by Scottish public authorities.
We disclose the attached spreadsheet (table 1 below) which provides you with the amount of expenditure on staff training for each of the last 6 financial years. The spreadsheet includes, where relevant, the job titles, number of staff trained, delivery location, training provider, qualification achieved and duration of training where any individual training or learning intervention cost >£1k. All costs shown are exclusive of VAT.
Please note:
- Our financial records are held for 6 years, in line with our records management policy. However, costs were incurred in the financial year 2018-19 that relate to a portion of training that started prior to this financial year. For completeness, we have been able to locate the full costs of this training during the financial years 2016-17 and 2017-18 within other records held.
- Our financial systems have no way of linking any travel claimed for a course with the course itself and therefore this information is not held and would require WICS to create new information. However, for any training that occurred outside of Scotland, we have searched our records and collated total expenses incurred in attending these courses.
- All staff are provided with regulatory training such as cyber security, data protection and HR topics such as equality and diversity. However, a cost cannot be attributed to these as they are provided under wider contracts.
- Some of our training requires staff to agree to reimburse costs if they leave within a certain time period after completing their training. Where this applies, staff usually need to remain with the organisation for two years from the time they complete their training.
If you are unhappy with this response to your request, you may ask us to carry out a review by contacting us. Your request for review should explain why you are dissatisfied and should be made within 40 working days of receipt of this response. The review will be undertaken by staff not involved in the original process and we will reply within 20 working days of receipt.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) and thereafter to the Court of Session on a point of law only. The SIC can be contacted using the details below:
Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Website: Homepage | Scottish Information Commissioner (foi.scot)
or for online appeals: Appeal to the Commissioner | Scottish Information Commissioner (foi.scot)
Table 1:
| 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | |||||||||
| Training <£1k | 170 | 4,268 | 2,289 | 2,037 | 2,963 | 2,458 | ||||||||||
| Training >£1k | 29,118 | 81,938 | 39,131 | 150,318 | 45,231 | 31,253 | 86,570 | 10,519 | ||||||||
| Total training costs | 29,118 | 81,938 | 39,301 | 154,586 | 48,020 | 33,290 | 89,533 | 12,977 | ||||||||
| Detail of training >£1k | ||||||||||||||||
| Job title(s) | Description | No. of staff | Location of delivery | Total travel, accommodation and other expenses | Supplier | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | 2021-22 | 2022-23 | 2023-24 | Total cost | Associated qualification | Length of training |
| Senior Managers and Executive Team | Executive coaching |
Yr 1: up to 10 people Yr 2: 2 people Yr 3 onwards: 1 person |
Stirling / virtual | N/A | ExCo2 | - | - | - | 45,451 | 18,096 | 14,327 | 6,169 | 3,727 | 87,769 | N/A | Total cost represents approximately 40 days of coaching, although sessions were likely to be in the region of 1-2 hours with preparation time required for each session. |
| Head of Retail | Executive MBA Programme | 1 | London / Argentina | 10,859 | London Business School | - | 52,820 | - | 31,800 | - | - | - | - | 84,620 | MBA | 2 years from September 2018. Part-time course carried out virtually, with course time in London and a 5 day assignment in Argentina. |
| Chief Operating Officer | Senior Executive Education Programme | 1 | Boston, USA | 6,767 | Harvard Business School | - | - | - | - | - | - | 76,543 | - | 76,543 | Advanced Management Programme | January to May 2023 (2 x 3 weeks of which were full time at Harvard). |
| Senior Manager | Executive MBA Programme | 1 | London / Buenos Aries | 11,713 | London Business School | 29,118 | 29,118 | 14,559 | - | - | - | - | - | 72,795 | MBA | 2 years from January 2017. Part-time course in London and a 5 day assignment in Buenos Aries. |
| Open to all employees | EBR/EBP | Approx. 22 | Stirling | N/A | AreteWork | - | - | - | 4,861 | 20,842 | - | - | - | 25,703 | N/A | 12 days. |
| Head of External Relations and Strategy | Executive development programme | 1 | New York, USA | 1,056 | Columbia University | - | - | - | 20,404 | - | - | - | - | 20,404 | Certificate in Management | 13 days. |
| Analysts | Utility training course | 3 | Oxford | Not held - see text below | Oxera | - | - | - | 12,528 | - | - | - | - | 12,528 | N/A | 4 days. |
| Employees responsible for information security and management | BSC CISMP | 2 | Glasgow | N/A | QA Training | - | - | - | 4,580 | - | - | - | - | 4,580 | BSC certificate in information security management | 4 days. |
| Employees responsible for information security and management | CISM IMACA | 1 | Glasgow | N/A | QA Training | - | - | - | 1,341 | - | - | - | - | 1,341 | Certified information security manager | 4 days. |
| Open to all employees | GDPR | Approx. 28 | Virtual | N/A | QA Training | - | - | - | 2,946 | - | - | - | - | 2,946 | N/A | Online course available for 12 months. |
| Employees responsible for project management | Prince 2 foundation and practitioner | 1 | Virtual | N/A | QA Training | - | - | 2,040 | - | - | - | - | - | 2,040 | Certified Prince2 Practitioner | 5 days. |
| Finance team | Accountancy | 2 | Glasgow | N/A | Kaplan/ACCA | - | - | 2,962 | 6,800 | - | - | - | - | 9,762 | ACCA | Modular over 2-3 years. |
| Open to all employees | Personal impact and team effectiveness workshop | Approx. 22 | Stirling | N/A | ColourWorks | - | - | 7,697 | 1,995 | - | - | - | - | 9,692 | N/A | 1 day |
| Assistant Directors | Media training for appearance at Select Committee | 2 | London | Not held - see text below | Instinctif Partners Ltd | - | - | - | 9,000 | - | - | - | - | 9,000 | N/A | 1 day |
| Chief Operating Officer | Non-Executive Director training | 1 | Mostly remote, 2 x trip to London | 700 | Financial Times | - | - | - | - | - | 7,500 | - | - | 7,500 | FT Non-Executive Director Diploma | 6 months (although not full-time) Cost includes introductory day in London and 2 day workshop, assessment, exam and access to on-line materials). |
| Analysts | Microsoft Excel | Approx. 12 | Stirling | N/A | iTrain | - | - | - | 1,194 | 1,194 | 2,226 | 2,598 | - | 7,212 | N/A | Various sessions usually between 1/2 day to 2 days and attended by more than 1 person each session. |
| Open to all employees | Copywriting and writing skills | Approx. 15 | Virtual | N/A | Government Events | - | - | - | - | - | 7,200 | - | - | 7,200 | N/A | 2 x 1/2 sessions. |
| Deputy CEO | Non-Executive Director training | 1 | Mostly remote, 1 x trip to London | 693 | Financial Times | - | - | 6,598 | - | - | - | - | - | 6,598 | FT Non Executive Director Diploma | 6 months (although not full-time) Cost includes 2 day workshop, assessment and access to on-line materials). |
| Chief Operating Officer | 121 Coaching / presentation skills | 1 | London | N/A | Chris Bramwell Associates | - | - | 3,032 | 2,020 | - | - | - | - | 5,052 | N/A | 3 days. |
| Executive team and employees with responsibility for purchasing | Value for money | 12 | Virtual | N/A | Civil Service College | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3,528 | 3,528 | N/A | 1/2 day. |
| Analysts | Young Scotland Programme | 2 | Ayr | N/A | Young Scotland Programme | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3,264 | 3,264 | N/A | 4 days. |
| Board, ARC, Executive Team | Risk training | Approx. 10 | Virtual | N/A | On Board Training and Consultancy Ltd | - | - | - | - | 3,000 | - | - | - | 3,000 | N/A | 1/2 day |
| Not held although those that attended would have had a role either reporting to or sitting on the ARC | Audit Committee effectiveness | Approx. 5 | Virtual | N/A | On Board Training and Consultancy Ltd | - | - | - | - | 2,100 | - | - | - | 2,100 | N/A | 1 day |
| Open to all employees | First Aid training | 8 | Glasgow | N/A | St Andrew's first aid training | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1,260 | - | 1,260 | Certified first aider | 3 days |
| Board, ARC, Executive Team | Risk management workshop | Approx. 15 | Stirling | N/A | Amberwing | - | - | - | 1,804 | - | - | - | - | 1,804 | N/A | 1/2 day |
| Employees with responsibility for complaint handling and external communications | Complaint investigation skills | 10 | Stirling | N/A | SPSO | - | - | - | 1,800 | - | - | - | - | 1,800 | N/A | 1 day |
| Employees responsible for information security and management | Systems security | 1 | Edinburgh | N/A | The Knowledge Academy | - | - | - | 1,794 | - | - | - | - | 1,794 | Systems security certified practitioner | 3 days. |
| CEO | Coaching | 1 | London | N/A | Simon Parr | - | - | 1,170 | - | - | - | - | - | 1,170 | N/A | 3 x 1/2 hour sessions. |
| Open to all employees | SharePoint training | Approx. 22 | Stirling | N/A | QA Training | - | - | 1,074 | - | - | - | - | - | 1,074 | N/A | 1-2 days. |