Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 37
37
Accepted
Extensive training programme prioritised for implementation of the new Procurement Act.
Conclusion
The GCF told us that the priority for implementing the new Act is training and said that it had a training programme ready to roll out from December. The GCF commented that it expects that the Act will be implemented in October 2024. We were told by the GCF that there is secondary legislation that should be passed by March 2024, which allows government six months to implement training. GCF said that its training programme would cover 20,000 procurement staff, and probably 50,000 people in policy areas and other parts of the public sector. GCF told us that government has already trained nearly 30,000 people in contract management. The GCF further explained that it had a four- part training programme, varying from online “knowledge drops”, e-learning, through to facilitated training. The GCF acknowledged that government needs to continue to develop commercial expertise across government.63 60 Q 3 61 Qq 3–4 62 Q 5 63 Q 43 18 Competition in public procurement
Government Response Summary
The government confirms the recommendation is implemented, detailing its four-part learning and development programme, including knowledge drops, e-learning, instructor-led courses, and communities of practice, which are already being rolled out to prepare for the Procurement Act's go-live in October 2024.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation Recommendation implemented It is currently anticipated that the new regime in the Procurement Act 2023 will go-live in October 2024 following an implementation period of 6 months post the laying of secondary legislation. The Cabinet Office has set out its plan for transition between the regimes and is already rolling out a series of learning interventions to train contracting authority buyers on what the new legislative framework is and how to use it. More information on transforming public procurement is available on Gov.UK. The learning and development is intended to be free at the point of access and has been centrally funded by the government to end FY 23/24.There are four interventions planned: a) a series of recorded ‘knowledge drops’ watchable videos approximately 45 minutes in length, providing an overview of all of the changes in legislation are aimed at non-commercial leaders, professions and others (incl. suppliers) needing a general level of awareness of the new legislation. They launched in December 2023 targeted at an expected audience of up to 60,000 individuals. As of 5 January 2024, over 8,000 knowledge drop views had been recorded b) a self-guided e-learning programme comprising 10 one-hour modules with a separate certification module is the core learning product available to all procurement and commercial staff, estimated to be 20,000 individuals at skilled and advanced buyer level. The course provides a comprehensive grounding on the new legislation and will be launched in March 2024 c) an instructor-led three day course of interactive ‘deep dive’ webinars allows learners to engage with subject matter experts and gain deeper insight across the full spectrum of the legislative change and supports “hearts and minds” change. The course is aimed at advanced buyers, expected to be 7,500 to 9,000 individuals, and is planned to be launched in May 2024, running for 58 weeks to allow up to 9,000 individuals to attend. d) communities of practice which provide a system of collective critical inquiry and reflection into the legislative changes. The communities will support individuals helping them to embed what they have learned. Aimed at a mixture of skilled and advanced buyers, circa 11,000, the product is planned to be launched in May 2024 and will run for 18 months. We will enlist the support of the Civil Service Board underlined at Civil Service Learning sessions to ensure full participation by non-commercial colleagues. In addition to the comprehensive Learning and Development offer, workstreams under the programme are developing the central digital platform which will be essential to issuing new notices under the Act and creating Review Unit which will be established to monitor compliance with the act and investigate suppliers to the public sector.