Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they made of alternative delivery models, including direct commissioning from UK universities and specialist training providers, before awarding new Civil Service learning and development contracts to KPMG and EY.

The National School of Government and Public Services will provide world-class learning and development for civil servants, supporting public sector excellence and preparing our people for the future. Our new in-house delivery model will move away from reliance on professional services firms, ensuring learning is designed and delivered by civil servants for civil servants, working with the best external training providers, including universities.

In the meantime, the EY and KPMG contracts include the option of commissioning UK universities and specialist training providers to deliver training to the Civil Service.