Trainer providers used/purchases in Financial Year 21/22: FOI release

Information requested

1. For the Financial year 2021/22 please confirm whether your organisation purchased any training from the below Training Providers together with the value of the training purchased.

• Elite Training & Consultancy
• Global Knowledge
• Indicia Training
• QA Ltd
• The Knowledge Academy

2. Which of the below training areas did you purchase and what was the value purchased for each area?

• Agile & Scrum
• Business Analysis
• Cyber Security
• Data Analytics
• Enterprise Architecture
• IT Service Management
• Lean/Lean Six Sigma
• Project & Programme Management
• Software Testing
• Technical IT Training

3. If you did purchase training in any of the areas listed in question 2, but not via Elite Training & Consultancy/Global Knowledge/Indicia Training/QA Ltd or The Knowledge Academy, which training provider did you purchase from and what was the total value of the training purchased? Please also confirm the training area purchased together with a breakdown of spend in each area.

4. Did your organisation purchase any digital learning subscription licences in Financial Year 2021/22 from any of the below digital learning platforms? If the answer is yes, how many licences did you purchase and what was the total value of the purchase?

• A Cloud Guru
• CBT Nuggets
• Cloud Academy
• LinkedIn Learning
• Plural Sight

5. What are your organisation's procurement rules around purchasing training and how do these change when certain value thresholds are reached, see examples below.

• under £5,000 - 1 quote,
• over £5,000 but under £10,000 - 3 quotes required
• over £10,000 – 5 quotes via an open procurement exercise
• over £20,000 – full tender exercise

6. Does your organisation use any of the below public sector procurement frameworks to procure training and if so which one/s? Please also confirm the value of training purchased from each framework in relation to the training areas listed in question 2.

• Crown Commercial Service Dynamic Purchasing Service (DPS)
• G Cloud 12
• ESPO

Scottish Government Project Management Framework

7. If you use an alternative procurement framework to procure training in the training areas listed in question 2 which framework do you use?

8. Do you have a competency framework in place? If yes, which department manages this. If no, is there a central training function, if yes, where does this report to?

9. Is the expectation that budget will be made available for training 2022/2023, if yes what value?

Response

1. For the Financial year 2021/22 please confirm whether your organisation purchased any training from the below Training Providers together with the value of the training purchased.

Elite Training & Consultancy - £12,535.00 for whole of DS for FY 2021/2022
Global Knowledge – N/A
Indicia Training – N/A
QA Ltd – N/A
The Knowledge Academy - £900.00 - Train the Trainer Course

2. Which of the below training areas did you purchase and what was the value purchased for each area?

Agile & Scrum - £1,648.00
Business Analysis - £954.00
Cyber Security - £778.80
Data Analytics – N/A
Enterprise Architecture – N/A
IT Service Management - £1895.00
Lean/Lean Six Sigma – N/A
Project & Programme Management - £8880.00
Software Testing – N/A
Technical IT Training - £838.76

3. If you did purchase training in any of the areas listed in question 2, but not via Elite Training & Consultancy/Global Knowledge/Indicia Training/QA Ltd or The Knowledge Academy, which training provider did you purchase from and what was the total value of the training purchased? Please also confirm the training area purchased together with a breakdown of spend in each area.

BLS Stay Compliant - £300.00
Metadata LTD - £954.00
The Scottish Digital Academy - £1,220.00
Advent Im Limited - £478.80
A Cloud Guru - £390.00
Linux Academy - £448.76
Ucd Gathering 2021 - £153.00
Sysop Limited - £1,895.00
Scottish Digital Academy - £275.00

Breakdown by area (excluding Elite Training & Consultancy/Global Knowledge/Indicia Training/QA Ltd and The Knowledge Academy)
Agile & Scrum - £1,648.00
Business Analysis - £954.00
Cyber Security - £778.80
Data Analytics – N/A
Enterprise Architecture – N/A
IT Service Management - £1895.00
Lean/Lean Six Sigma – N/A
Project & Programme Management – N/A
Software Testing – N/A
Technical IT Training - £838.76

4. Did your organisation purchase any digital learning subscription licences in Financial Year 2021/22 from any of the below digital learning platforms? If the answer is yes, how many licences did you purchase and what was the total value of the purchase?

A Cloud Guru - £590.00 Training, testing and certification in AWS for 3 people in Digital team (July
2021).
CBT Nuggets – N/A
Cloud Academy – N/A
LinkedIn Learning – N/A
Plural Sight – N/A

5. What are your organisation's procurement rules around purchasing training and how do these change when certain value thresholds are reached, see examples below.
under £5,000 - 1 quote,
over £5,000 but under £10,000 - 3 quotes required
over £10,000 – 5 quotes via an open procurement exercise
over £20,000 – full tender exercise

Below is an extract from the procurement manual policy for Disclosure Scotland:
All purchases for goods and services up to the value of £5,000 that are not on an existing contract must have three written quotations from different suppliers before making a decision on the basis of VfM. Any works between the value of £5,000 and £25,000 must have three written quotations from different suppliers before making a decision on the basis of VfM. The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014 requires all public bodies who are conducting a regulated procurement to publicise their intention to seek offers (contract notice) and the award of a contract or framework agreement (contract notice) on Public Contract Scotland (PCS). The PCS info centre contains further information on how public bodies can meet their publication obligation. This means that all regulated contracts for goods and services with an anticipated value of £50,000 and above (excluding VAT) and for contracts for works with an anticipated value of £2,000,000 and above (excluding VAT) must be advertised on the Public Contracts Scotland advertising portal (PCS). The value of the contract is the total amount, net of VAT, which the Scottish Government expects to pay over the full duration of the contract (including any options to extend).
All contracts with an anticipated value of less than £50,000 but above £5,000 (excluding VAT) for goods and services and less than £250,000 for works will require a DPO to use QuickQuote (an online competition process within PCS). Quick Quote must only be used where the DPO:
• ensures that there is no existing contract/framework agreement which could be accessed;
• satisfies themselves that using QuickQuote meets their obligations for adequate publicity, and
• ensures that the procurement/mini-competition is for low value/risk goods, services or works.
All contracts with an anticipated value of £50,000 and above (excluding VAT) and above £250,000 for works should be advertised on PCS. The value of the contract is the total amount, net of VAT, which Disclosure Scotland expects to pay over the full duration of the contract (including any options to extend). Decisions not to use PCS should be objectively based and documented on the corporate record.
All purchases made using the Electronic Purchasing Card (ePC) must comply with the ePC procedures below.
You may be able to use an electronic Purchasing Card (ePC) for low-value goods and services. An ePC has:
• a single item transaction limit of up to £5,000 (excluding VAT)
• a monthly limit of up to £25,000 (excluding VAT)
You must ensure that any goods or services being bought offer value for money. Before reaching a decision to buy, cardholders must provide:
• one quote for purchases under £1,000, made by telephone and confirmed in writing by the supplier
• a minimum of three written quotes from different suppliers for purchases of £1,000 and above
Any decision to buy should be based on quality and price.

6. Does your organisation use any of the below public sector procurement frameworks to procure training and if so which one/s? Please also confirm the value of training purchased from each framework in relation to the training areas listed in question 2.

Crown Commercial Service Dynamic Purchasing Service (DPS) – £Nil
G Cloud 12 - £Nil
ESPO - £Nil
Scottish Government Project Management Framework - £Nil

7. If you use an alternative procurement framework to procure training in the training areas listed in question 2 which framework do you use?

N/A

8. Do you have a competency framework in place? If yes, which department manages this. If no, is there a central training function, if yes, where does this report to?

We have a performance management/appraisal process which covers all of SG and executive agencies. This also includes learning and development & skills requirements. The recruitment process in place from SG includes competency based interviews.Learning and Development will fall under the People Services Teams, however, in the past services have arranged their own training for specific areas. There is a centralised budget for Learning and Development which falls under the Chief Executive’s Office budget.

9. Is the expectation that budget will be made available for training 2022/2023, if yes what value?

Our IT directorate have a training budget of £30,000 for 2022-23.

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