Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what training his Department has provided to (a) general civil servants, (b) fast stream civil servants and (c) senior civil servants on understanding the scrutiny and legislative roles of the UK Parliament; how many such courses have taken place; and how many civil servants have attended such training courses in each of the last five years.

All civil servants have access to the central learning offer provided through Civil Service Learning (CSL). There are one-day workshops on understanding Parliament, which are delivered at Foundation and Practitioner levels, which both cover Parliament’s scrutiny and legislative roles. Dedicated training sessions covering specific topics are also available including introductions to Parliament, select committees, debates and voting, pre and post legislative scrutiny, Parliamentary questions, delegated legislation, and primary legislation. A half-day workshop is available on producing effective Explanatory Memoranda to accompany secondary legislation. The Cabinet Office’s Parliamentary Business and Legislation Team provide training to Bill Teams. The Government Legal Department and Parliamentary Counsel run a course on ‘Dealing with Parliamentary Bills for Lawyers’, which covers parliamentary stages and handling. Bespoke sessions for government departments are also available on request.

There is an e-learning course on understanding Parliament, and access to two massive open online courses. These have been produced in partnership between the House of Commons and Future Learn, which is a digital education platform owned by the Open University.

The only course we have a data for is staff who have accessed e-learning training on ‘Parliamentary Processes’:

Fast Stream civil servants receive a Parliament workshop during their induction, covering the role of Parliament in scrutinising government policy. For policy professionals, a Fast Stream Base Camp includes an optional workshop which focuses on the legislative process in both houses, typical timetables and roles of Ministers, Bill Teams and civil servants in delivering legislation.

For senior civil servants, a tailored a one-day workshop, ‘Leading in Parliament’, is available, which covers Parliament’s role, powers and relationship with government, and the day-to-day work of Members. A workshop delivered jointly between CSL and HM Treasury is provided for Accounting Officers. CSL provides a workshop specifically for Senior Responsible Officers with responsibility for secondary legislation. Every department has an Senior Civil Service Parliamentary Champion. There is a buddy system in place between Parliamentary Champions and senior House staff.

We also provide learning opportunities as follows:

• The Policy Academy event: ‘Law and Policy: when and how to use legislation’ session, which includes secondary legislation and Explanatory Memoranda for Statutory Instruments. This is delivered four times a year with enough places for 100 G7 staff per year.
• ‘Introduction to Policy Making’ event that is aimed at people new to policy making and policy delivery.
• The Parliamentary team also deliver training on parliamentary accountability and Handling Statutory Instruments.