Speaking from the launch event, which brought together trade union representatives, senior leadership, external partners, HR Directors and early-career staff, Bevan stated:
“I am looking forward to hearing about the plans for the new National School of Government at the launch today. Learning and development are key to improving public sector productivity and I am keen to see how this investment will support civil servants to develop and progress, and also how our FDA Learn offer can align with it.”
During the event, attendees heard from Mark Ferguson, Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office, who was joined by fellow speakers Cat Little, Chief Operating Officer of the Civil Service and recently appointed BIST Permanent Secretary; Susan Acland-Hood, Department for Education Permanent Secretary; and Jenny Bates, Government Skills Group Director General.
Bevan highlighted the importance of the launch in marking the commitment to co-designing the NSG’s curriculum in partnership with unions:
“It’s great to work in partnership with the government using the insights from our learning offer to co-design the NSG’s curriculum, with FDA representatives meeting with Cabinet Office Minister Mark Ferguson this morning to kickstart that process, discussing topics such as AI and support/training for line managers.”
Following the event, Bevan drew attention to growing number of civil servants availing of the learning opportunities provided by the FDA Learn programme:
“There is certainly an appetite for flexible and high-quality learning across the civil service as we have seen from the ever-rising numbers engaging with our FDA Learn programme, which provided over 12,000 learning opportunities to civil servants last year.”
You can find out more about FDA Learn here.
As the political temperature rises in the lead up to Northern Ireland’s May election, the FDA’s National Officer for Northern Ireland Robert Murtagh has once again called on MLAs to “keep civil servants out of the political crossfire.”
FDA General Secretary Dave Penman spoke as part of the Bright Blue Panel ‘can AI improve public services?’ at Conservative Party Conference 2026 on Monday 5 October.
While these changes begin to address challenges identified by our members in the CPS, the union continues its call for increased CPS funding, in order to help tackle these crimes long-term.
