Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what training his Department has provided to (a) general civil servants, (b) fast stream civil servants and (c) senior civil servants on devolution and inter-governmental relations; how many such courses have taken place; and how many civil servants have attended such training courses in each of the last five years.

Extensive training is provided through Civil Service Learning, the Policy Profession and the UK Governance and Devolution Team in the Cabinet Office.

In addition to this, the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport’s (DCMS) in-house Devolution team provides complementary learning through:

• Departmental masterclasses, including tailored sessions for specialised teams;
• bespoke learning through a rolling programme of training at individual team meetings;
• tailored advice on individual issues as they arise;
• local inductions for new starters;
• a Devolution Learning Week for all staff, held annually:
• hosting and participation in the One Civil Service Interchange Programme;
• online training through Civil Service Learning; and
• guidance on the Departmental Intranet.

Information on take-up of this training offer over the past five years is not held by the Department.

Training for DCMS senior civil servants and fast stream civil servants is provided centrally by Cabinet Office.

Since its release in November 2016, ten DCMS civil servants have undertaken the online training for the course 'devolution and intergovernmental working;' DCMS have hosted four civil servants from devolved administrations through the Interchange Programme; and two DCMS civil servants have been out on Interchange to devolved administrations since 2017/18.