The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive. He will write to the right hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Hilary Reynolds:
In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive. As he is out of the country, I am replying on his behalf.
You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many days training were provided to staff at the Child Support Agency in each year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.
The Child Support Agency has provided a range of training during the last five years for which figures are available covering technical, management, generic skills and information technology. The specific details are broken down as follows:
Financial year Training days Number of people trained 2001-02 108,515 n/a 2002-03 133,199 13,143 2003-04 78,629 11,366 2004-05 67,687 11,376 2005-06 59,103 4,995
The decrease in training provided in 2005-06 was caused by a number of factors including awaiting the agreement of the Operational Implementation Plan, which has led to a new training programme for managers and other employees of the Child Support Agency. We have also seen a move towards blended learning and the use of e-learning with less emphasis on classroom training.
Following the announcement of the Operational Improvement Plan a full and comprehensive training programme has been developed. This includes a full training programme for Team Leaders, focusing on technical training, management skills and client outcomes. This will enable team leaders to effectively coach and mentor people leading to increased productivity and better client outcomes. In addition, we are currently developing training to support the movement of people to compliance work, as specified in the Operational Improvement Plan, so enabling the Agency to deliver the associate business benefits.
More detailed plans are still being finalised but the training will be for both new entrants and to support existing employees who may take on a different role on implementation of the new organisational design.
The consultation period for Sir David Henshaw’s redesign ended on 19 May 2006.
Following this deadline, Sir David and his team have tried to meet with individuals and organisations wherever possible.