Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) learning and development spend: FOI release

Information requested

1. External training spend in the previous 3 fiscal years (2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20) in the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, broken down by:

• Amount spent through the Civil Service Learning contract and amount spent to deliver external training through other contracts

• Under the Civil Service Learning Contract:

- Amount spent on online/digital delivery versus amount spent on in-person delivery

- Amount of spend allocated for bespoke courses specifically developed for your needs and amount of spend allocated for ‘off-the-shelf’ training material

2. Breakdown of the 2019/20 external training spend through the CSL contract in the Student Awards Agency for Scotland by course, including:

• Total amount spent per course

• Total number of learners per course

• Training provider that delivered the course

• Course delivery method – i.e. online/digital or in-person

• Name of course

• Subject area of course

3. External training budget for 2020/21 fiscal year in the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, broken down by:

• Budget to spend through the Civil Service Learning contract and budget to spend on the delivery of external training through other contracts.

4. Any analysis undertaken on how your department’s training needs have shifted this year compared to previous years

• For example, are you planning greater emphasis on Leadership & Management courses or training delivered through digital/online courses?

5. Total number of civil service employees working in the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (please provide latest available data)

Response

1. We pay an annual fee to access the CSL framework, which includes a number of free and chargeable learning products. We only utilise the free / online learning resources. Our annual fee to CSL is shown below:

• 2017 – 2018 £3,394.93

• 2018 – 2019 £3,228.40

• 2019 – 2020 £2,724.52

Our total spend on other externally sourced training per year is as follows:

• 2017 – 2018 £59,475.25

• 2018 – 2019 £85,094.10

• 2019 – 2020 £80,938.37

2. As per question 1, we pay an annual fee to access the CSL framework but only utilise the free online learning resources available.

3. Our total training budget is £155,000 for 2020/21. Please note this budget figure is an internal measure, and may therefore be subject to budget movements in the year. The final figure may not be known until the end of the financial year.

We do not allocate our budget to any particular contracts.

4. In 2020 we introduced an in-house learning consultancy service to provide advice, guidance, signposting and creation and/or sourcing of bespoke learning solutions where needed. Additionally, we have moved our model to one of ‘more resources, less courses’. All staff and managers have access to a full range of online, ‘anytime’ learning materials, including free CSL products.

5. Our headcount as of 31 August 2020 is 249, comprising permanent and temporary staff (agency workers, contractors and consultants).

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.