Government-wide learning to be unified in new 4-year contract

The Cabinet Office has announced that it has signed a four-year contract with Pearson to deliver the new cross Government skills capture and learning experience platform.

The platform will bring together for the first time the core learning offer for all government employees, along with resources specific to individual departments and professions. 

As well as creating a single ‘front door’ for all pan-government learning, the platform will enable users to create a profile to capture their skills and track completed learning. This will be used to generate personalised training recommendations based on the skills they would like to develop further.

“Our ambition is to provide a great user experience for all government employees, empowering them to take charge of their own training and development needs and take a proactive approach to developing their own careers,” explained Rebecca Birs, Business Change Lead for the Cabinet Office. “In addition, the data we will be able to harness will enable the civil service to bring about a significant step change in its skills and workforce planning capabilities.”

The data generated via the platform will help construct the most accurate picture ever achieved of skills availability across Government - supporting managers to take a more strategic approach to planning and delivering recruitment, development and talent management initiatives.

Of the 68 suppliers that expressed an interest in providing the service, five were shortlisted for panel review, with a final three selected to deliver product demonstrations. 

Birs added, “Now that the contract has been awarded, we will be working with Pearson to design a roll-out plan that will see the new platform implemented across government over the next two years.”