Learning and development - Christchurch Borough Council

Induction

All new staff receive induction training when joining the council. This ensures that they are familiar with our services and policies, and understand the basic responsibilities of their role.

In the first two months all new staff, with their manager or supervisor, will work through an induction checklist.

Appraisals

Our staff appraisal scheme is called the ‘Staff Review and Development Scheme’. It is a yearly review that, in addition to reviewing staff performance, allows staff to say how they feel their job is best undertaken, with an opportunity to discuss issues that are of concern to them as well as exploring their training and development needs.

Investors in people

The organisation is committed to meeting the requirements of the Investors in People Standard and has been a recognised Investor in People organisation since 2000.

The council is therefore committed to providing adequate training budgets to support training and development programmes.

Work related training

We support work related training including relevant Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and other developmental courses. We provide structured individual training and review the effectiveness of such on an annual basis.

Training agreements

There are occasions where there is a need for a training agreement to be entered into. The following information details the circumstances when they are required:

• the member of staff requests to undertake the relevant and appropriate training
• the length of the course exceeds 12 months
• the course fee funding made by the council totals £1000 or more

Because of the significant investment made by the council, staff undertaking training which meets the above criteria will be required to sign a training agreement. This commits them to repay a proportion of the training costs incurred if they leave within a certain period.