Civil service chief executive John Manzoni has said he expects a key public sector development programme set up by Francis Maude to continue its transformation work despite an end to its central funding.
Former cabinet office minister Maude set up the Commissioning Academy in 2012 to improve procurement skills across government.
Over the intervening period roughly 1,100 people have taken part in its three- to six-day courses, around half of them from the civil service with the remainder from local government.
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Up to 30 people take part in the courses, which are spread over a period five months. Sessions look at commissioning practices with a range of expert speakers, case studies and discussion. They are designed to focus on peer-led learning, debate and practical implementation.
Original pilots for the academy were funded wholly by central government, but the funding was gradually stepped down. In 2013 a £500 personal contribution was requested from participants. According to the government, the per-head charge for participants on the most recent central government course was £2,500.
A new model unveiled this week will see the academy operated by social enterprise the Public Service Transformation Academy, which has been awarded a concession to run courses for two years, with an option to extend the contract by one more year.
The social enterprise is a collaboration between more than 10 businesses and improvement bodies, and is led by the consultant Red Quadrant with the Whitehall and Industry Group. It includes members of the Public Service Transformation Network.
Tender documents for the contract expected it to be worth up to £4m.
Civil service chief Manzoni said the new arrangement would continue helping public sector commissioners transform public services and deliver better outcomes in a “tighter” financial environment.
“With the new concession taking over the resources built up by the Public Service Transformation Network, the academy will continue to promote and deliver public service transformation policy and enable lives to be improved across the country,” he said.
The Public Service Transformation Network was originally created by ministers in 2013 to build on lessons from the Community Budgets public sector pooled funding pilots.
Minister for civil society Rob Wilson said the new phase of the academy would be run on a not-for-profit basis.
“I am confident that this innovative way of delivering training will continue to keep the Commissioning Academy at the cutting edge of policy and practice.”
The next batch of Commissioning Academy courses starts in June.