Programmes

Programmes | On Site | Tailored and Consultancy

Trust and confidence in learning

The new Centre for Working with Ministers and Parliament offers a complementary set of programmes to help civil servants understand what Ministers need and why, and showing them how to provide it.

Often officials are thrown in the deep end, without training in this kind of work. Ministers complain of long drafts, impenetrable language and work with no clear objective of what it is supposed to achieve.

Our programmes help civil servants harness their creative talent and encourage them to employ it in a fresh and entertaining new way. The result is less time spent writing while giving Ministers more of what they want and need.

Our programmes are delivered by an organisation that holds a unique position as part of government and by teaching staff that have done the jobs for real. Our work with current Ministers and colleagues in departments gives us a critical mass of knowledge and experience that informs all our programmes. We know what Ministers need and we know what works.

Programmes offered by the Centre for Working with Ministers and Parliament fall under three headings: Ministerial Work, Parliamentary Business and broader programmes spanning both the ministerial and parliamentary environment.

MINISTERIAL WORK

Focuses on the skills needed to work with Ministers and how to write briefings, submissions and drafts which enable them to make informed decisions and explain their policy publicly through a number of platforms.

Communication, Briefing and Writing

• Policy Communication Skills
  A foundation course covering the range of communication and policy skills needed in the policy arena
• Communicating in a Policy Environment
  Primarily for Fast Streamers, a foundation course essential to developing key communication skills.
• Effective Briefing
  For staff whose work involves briefing Ministers or senior management this programme improves skills in presenting written and oral briefings.
• Writing Effective Submissions
  For anyone who wants to know how to write a submission to ministers or senior officials.
• Effective Ministerial Correspondence
  For staff whose work involves drafting letters for Ministers, senior management, or Treat Official replies, this programme includes a discussion with an experienced Minister.
• Effective Speech Writing
  For staff who write speeches for any speaker and want to make them memorable and interesting.

How to Work with Ministers

• Working with Ministers
  The essential starting point for anyone newly appointed to working with and around Ministers.
• How Government Works
  An overview of the workings of government and the Civil Service.
• Private Office: Induction Workshop
  For staff newly arrived in Private Office, including Ministerial Support Unit, correspondence sections, Parliamentary Branch and the Minister's Office. This workshop is best attended in the first month, or certainly within the first three months of taking up your post.
• Private Office: Policy Workshop
  For new private secretaries and assistant private secretaries who have attended the Private Office Foundation Workshop (PO1). You should attend it within two to three months of taking up your post

PARLIAMENTARY BUSINESS

Focuses on the special skills required for serving Parliament.

• How Parliament Works
  A broad overview for those who want to understand the role of Parliament and its importance to their work. This programme includes a half day visit to the Houses of Parliament and a talk from an MP.
• Parliamentary Questions
  For staff involved in preparing responses to Westminster Parliamentary Questions (PQs), this programme will develop your ability to draft replies.
• Appearing before Select Committees
  For staff who may be called before, or have to prepare a briefing for, a select committee, this programme prepares you for the experience, especially adversarial questioning.

BROADER PROGRAMMES SPANNING THE MINISTERIAL AND PARLIAMENTARY ENVIRONMENT

A range of programmes about both ministerial work and parliamentary business that provide the essential groundings

• A-Z of British Government: Westminster and Whitehall
  A one day programme that provides a basic grasp of the system and machinery of UK government.
• The Government Framework
  For those on Fast Stream and other development programmes and for those who wish to develop an understanding of the government environment for Professional Skills for Government (PSG).
• Parliament, Government and the Civil Service
  For those on Fast Stream and other development programmes, this provides the definitive grounding in the parliamentary and government processes.