Learning Operating Model

Policing the capital is a unique challenge. The Met is built on its people, and this service can only ever be as good as the capabilities of the workforce who do extraordinary things every day to keep London safe. The Met Direction (Pillar 6) sets out the Met’s commitment to develop a culture of learning, building the professional capability of the workforce to ensure officers and staff are equipped with the skills and capability needed for policing in the 21st century to build and maintain the trust and confidence of the public.

The Met has been making incremental improvements to aspects of training over many years and can point to various pockets of good practice in evidence of this. There is no shortage of ambition to modernise. In the last year, the Met has made significant investments in the training of new recruits, culminating with the go live of the new externally accredited recruit training paths from January 2021 under the Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF). Despite this, progress is too slow to meet the exponential increase in demand and the existing technology platform is limiting the Met’s ability to modernise and transform.

This decision seeks approval for the implementation of a new Learning Operating Model for the Met which will address these operational challenges as well as build critical longer-term core infrastructure. The new Learning Operating Model is shaped around three integrated streams of work: (1) a new organisation design for the Learning & Development team, (2) investment in developing new training content for our core operational curriculum that maximises digital opportunities and (3) the implementation of a corporate Learning Management System.

The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime is recommended to:

1. Award a 5+1+1 year contract to Accenture in relation to the delivery of an enterprise COTS Cornerstone Learning Management System. The duration of the contract covers Software as a Service (SaaS) for the seven years (a five year initial term [including 8 months of Implementation within year 1] plus a two year (1+1) optional extension);

2. Approve setting the total contract value at £9.46m (factoring in the optional two year extension period);

3. Approve £1.80m of capital expenditure (£0.53m in FY20/21 and £1.27m in FY21/22), funded from the existing capital budget allocated to Learning & Development transformation;

4. Approve a virement of £7.00m from the Learning & Development and Professionalism police staff pay budget to supplies & services within Learning & Development over the term. (Adjusting each year with reference to the requirements set out in the further information contained in the restricted section of the report);

5. Approve the additional cost requirement of £1.38m over the 2 years of Implementation (FY21/22 and FY22/23) which will be funded from one-off underspends in Corporate Services in FY20/21.

6. Approve the movement of £0.64m of revenue in FY23/24 into a Learning & Development Operating Model reserve to support the funding of costs over the term FY24/25 to FY27/28.

1. Introduction and background

1.1. This business case will deliver against the Met vision for learning transformation through an integrated corporate approach built on three critical and inter-dependent components.

1.2. A new operating model for Learning & Development - New services and processes within Professionalism will strengthen the link between organisational and individual learning to ensure the Met learn as fast and as well as they can. The new operating model dedicates additional resources to supporting Heads of Profession and Business Area Leads and further builds the newly formed ‘gateway’ process into L&D, facilitating alignment and prioritisation of training needs across the Met (whether driven by BAU or transformation). The new design will give the Met direct line of sight from the identification of a training need, through design and delivery and ultimately tracking completion and performance impact. Central to the new L&D design is establishing internal capability to develop high quality and digital training content, alongside an overhauled approach to engaging with community stakeholders in the design (and in some areas the delivery) of core Met operational training. A key commitment within the Mayor’s Action Plan.

1.3. Modernisation of our core operational curriculum - Met core operational curriculum is dated, dependent on traditional face-to-face methods and increasingly out of alignment with professionalising national standards. This business case includes investment in developing new blended training content, designed to maximise digital opportunities and increase knowledge retention (learning that sticks) in support of improved service. This reduces abstraction time and opportunity cost for both instructors and those attending training.

1.4. Funding is allocated for external support whilst we mobilise and upskill dedicated internal content creation capability. Modernised courses will balance operational skills with wider capabilities (including reflective practice, analysis and problem solving) designed to shift mind-sets and influence behaviour. The LMS will allow the Met to create learning pathways for different groups of officers and staff, this means learning can be tailored to remove unnecessary abstractions and improve the learner experience.

1.5. Development of new operational learning content creates new opportunities for the Met to open up the design of training to collaborate more with the community (delivering against commitments within the Mayor’s Action Plan) and to build on early work exploring the potential for closer working with other Forces (e.g. pursuing efficiencies through a more national approach to content development).

1.6. Implementation of a corporate Learning Management System - An LMS is something considered standard by most large organisations, certainly ones as complex as the Met. However, in the Met, it is a vital missing piece of our corporate technology landscape. The Learning Operating Model will see the implementation of Cornerstone on Demand. Cornerstone is a fit for purpose, industry (and Gartner) recognised Commercial off the Shelf (COTS) LMS.

1.7. The LMS will give the Met a single system underpinning the management and delivery of all learning across the organisation. It is technology designed to maximise the efficiency of large-scale learning and development operations. It will drive out many of the significant inefficiencies inherent in current ways of working through the removal of non-value add manual activity.

1.8. The LMS will create a single training record for all officers and staff. This will unlock accurate ‘touch of a button’ reporting (including proactive monitoring for disproportionality) and enable Corporate Workforce Planning to put equal focus on capability and capacity in decision-making. This will move the Met to a place where they can effectively prioritise supply and proactively manage current and future skills gaps.

1.9. An LMS is essential for delivering blended and modularised learning that can be measured - as well providing ‘bite sized’ learning accessible to all staff at the point of need. It will allow the Met to organise learning according to job families and use these to shape and target learning for different groups. At an individual level, the LMS will offer a superior user experience for accessing, sharing and managing learning - supporting a culture where learning is a collective responsibility. This will mean officers and staff get what they actually need to do their jobs - a critical influencer of feeling well supported and equipped at work.

1.10. Cornerstone is designed as a holistic learning platform. It will allow the Met to join up work in L&D with wider work in HR on performance management, talent management and career development. L&D and HR are actively working together on how they can maximise the benefits of the Cornerstone system e.g. to support the next phase of the corporate work on Leading for London.

2. Issues for consideration

2.1. The Learning Operating Model is designed to ensure that the Met is equipped to meet the learning associated with delivering the Police and Crime Plan priorities. It will ensure that strategic requirements can be translated into a rapid cycle of design, development and delivery at scale with improved assurance about the uptake and impact. The new infrastructure supports a transformed level of community stakeholder involvement at each stage of the training lifecycle.

2.2. Through the implementation of the Learning Operating Model and specifically a move to maximise digital lopportunities within training, the business case provides opportunity to streamline the centralised Learning & Development estate footprint.

2.3. The specific benefits that the Met aim to achieve through the new Learning Operating Model are:

2.4. Increased efficiency of training administration and delivery processes - the combination of new technology, design and business processes will drive more efficient operations across the Met. Together, they will improve end user access and navigation through a single learning platform and a single learner record. The LMS introduces the ability to offer more targeted training based on individual or business need, enabled through blended delivery. This supports keeping learner abstraction to a minimum and creates a culture of anytime any location access to digital high quality learning materials. The LMS also creates opportunities to streamline and automate processes reducing significant manual training administration for both central teams, individuals and supervisors. Curriculum Modernisation reduces the time instructors are required to lead training, increasing their capacity to deliver more and/ or releasing savings. It will also release capacity for the learners, to be re-purposed onto local policing priorities.

2.5. Reduced organisational risk by ensuring skills and training requirements are achieved - The LMS enables the Met to have touch of a button data on workforce skills / capabilities picture across the service in both volume and specialist areas. The new technology will fundamentally change the ability to make confident data driven decisions and develop insights. This will allow the Met to put equal focus on capability and capacity in Corporate Workforce Planning and proactively intervene in a targeted manner to close identified skills gaps. The use of automated prompts will help signpost training requirements and drive compliance. By analysing training effectiveness, courses can be improved and targeted to Job Families, and new digital training content can be ‘pushed out’ to those that need it.

2.6. Increased satisfaction with learning and career development opportunities - the LMS will provide anytime and any location access to training materials & resources, allowing booking of courses at times that suit the learner increasing both the variety and volume of digital, blended and face-to-face learning delivery. This will lead to a modern, personalised and intelligent user experience that gives officers & staff what they want when they need it (improving accessibility), increasing employee satisfaction and ensuring that officers and staff feel well supported and equipped to do their jobs. This supports future career development for officers and staff by allowing them access and opportunities to focus on the right continued professional development. The Learning Operating Model will deliver transparency in relation to who is accessing learning and career development opportunities through a wider range of diversity data sets.

2.7. Increasing officer capability to address changing nature of crime - the LMS will provide a full suite of reports on training performance, certifications, and skills across the Met. The Learning Operating Model will allow the organisation to understand the ‘skills gap’, and intelligently structure a curriculum, annual training plan and course allocation to meet requirements. This will lead to increased workforce capability by ensuring higher levels of trained and certified staff. The Learning Operating Model dedicates resource to supporting the Heads of Profession, this will give the Met direct line of sight from the identification of a training need or a future threat, through to design and delivery and ultimately tracking completion and performance impact.

3. Financial Comments

3.1. In October 2019, MOPAC approval was provided for the use of the Solution Provider Framework (SPF) for the procurement of a corporate Learning Management System for the Met. The SPF was established in 2017, via a competitive process, to provide more effective and rapid routes to market for digital solution delivery projects.

3.2. This procurement process has now concluded. The recommendation to the DMPC is to award a contract to Accenture via the SPF for Accenture to undertake the role of Systems Integrator (SI) in relation to the delivery of Cornerstone On Demand, an enterprise level ‘Commercial off the Shelf’ Learning Management System provided by Accenture’s third party supplier Cornerstone. The contract will be awarded under a 5+1+1 year term. The total contract value (including the two optional extension years) has been calculated at £9.46m.

3.3. Full details of the financial and commercial arrangements are contained within the restricted section of this report. The procurement process and terms of the contract are fully compliant with the Regulations. Commercial and Legal advice has been provided at all stages.

3.4. The overall cost of the new Learning Operating Model as defined in the Final Business Case is £18.5m (revenue and capital) across the seven year period through to 2027/28. Associated costs associated will be met from within existing MPS budgets.

4. Legal Comments

4.1. The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (“MOPAC”) is a contracting authority as defined in the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (“the Regulations”). All awards of, and modifications to, public contracts for goods and/or services valued at £189,330 or above shall be procured in accordance with the Regulations. This report confirms the value of the recommendations exceed this threshold.

4.2. Paragraph 4.8 of the MOPAC Scheme of Delegation and Consent provides that the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime has delegated authority to approve business cases for revenue or capital expenditure of £500,000 or above.

4.3. The Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime has delegated authority under the Scheme to approve budget virements or movements of £500,000 and above, (whether on a temporary or permanent basis) (paragraph 4.8).

4.4. Once approval is given by MOPAC, the Director of Commercial Services may sign contracts (irrespective of value) provided they are not required to be sealed (under 7.26 of the MOPAC Scheme of Consent and Delegation).

4.5. In accordance with PCD 778 “Amendment to MOPAC Financial regulations, Contract Regulations and Scheme of Consent and Delegation in relation to the execution of simple contracts and deeds” legal advice has been obtained which confirms that, consideration will pass between the parties as required to form a binding contract, there is no legal requirement for the contract to be sealed (it is not a contract for land or any other type of transition which requires a document to be sealed by law) and the risk related to the scope of the contract does not require the additional limitation of a further 6 years. Therefore there is no legal reason which requires this contract to be sealed and it may (subject to the approval of MOPAC) be signed by the Director of Commercial Services.

5. Commercial Issues

5.1. This information is contained in the restricted section of the report.

6. GDPR and Data Privacy

6.1. The MPS is subject to the requirements and conditions placed on it as a ‘State’ body to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights and the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. Both legislative requirements place an obligation on the MPS to process personal data fairly and lawfully in order to safeguard the rights and freedoms of individuals.

6.2. Under Article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Section 57 of the DPA 2018, Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPA) become mandatory for organisations with technologies and processes that are likely to result in a high risk to the rights of the data subjects.

6.3. The Information Assurance and Information Rights unit will be consulted at all stages to ensure the implementation of the Learning Operating Model, specifically the mobilisation of a corporate Learning Management System meets its compliance requirements.

6.4. A DPIA has been completed for this project. The project will ensure a privacy by design approach, which will allow the MPS to find and fix problems at the early stages of any project, ensuring compliance with GDPR. DPIAs support the accountability principle, as they will ensure the MPS complies with the requirements of GDPR and they demonstrate that appropriate measures have been taken to ensure compliance.

7. Equality Comments

7.1. MOPAC is required to comply with the public sector equality duty set out in section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. This requires MOPAC to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics. The protected characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

7.2. One of the overarching benefits intended from the implementation of the Learning Operating Model and the corporate Learning Management System is to improve equality within how learning is targeted and consumed across the Met. Critically, it will enable the Met to more effectively monitor proactively for disproportionality within Learning & Development.

7.3. Learning and Development have a critical role to play in building community trust and confidence (including the ambitions laid out in the Mayoral Action plan). Working with community stakeholders to design and develop the right learning content for officers and staff will be supported through the mobilisation of the Learning Operating Model to allow all of the Met to access and in a way that can be assured through reliable management information.

7.4. Following engagement with the MPS Strategy, Diversity & Inclusion team, a number of opportunities, risks and effective mitigations have been identified and detailed within the Equality Impact Assessment and implementation plans moving forward.

8. Background/supporting papers

8.1. None