Parliament and Government Trainings
Equality impact assessment
Course outline
- Equality impact assessments are a mechanism that ensures that you take into account the equality implications of any policy decision you make.
- This course aims to help you to properly apply equality impact assessments to help ensure that you enable your Local Government or Council to continue to provide appropriate and professional service.
Learning objectives
This course aims to give you:
- learn how to make better policy
- Gives an understanding of the statutory requirement to carry out race and disability equality impact assessments (REIA)
- the ability to follow your Local Government or work equality impact assessment process
- an understanding of the links between EIA impact assessment and other performance based work in the authority
- an awareness of the wider diversity agenda.
The work of government
Learning objectives
- Understand the wider influences affecting the power of the Government
- Understand the role of the Key Players within a Government Department, including Ministers, PPS, Special Adviser, Permanent Secretary, Private Office
- Understand the Structure of Government Departments, including Central Departments, Executive Agencies, NDPBs
- Understand the relationships between Government, Parliament and the Civil Service
- Understand the work of the Cabinet and its committees
- Learn how the Civil Service works and how policies are designed, developed and implemented
An Introduction to Legislation
Learning Objectives
- Understand the process prior to the publication of a bill, including consultation, green and white papers, pre-legislative scrutiny, drafting
- Understand how the legislative programme is organised
- Understand the different types of Primary and Secondary legislation
- Understand exactly how a bill passes through each House of Parliament
- Understand the role of the bill team and how it operates
- Understand how to effectively interact with the legislative process and the key players within it
How Government is Scrutinised: Select Committees, PQs, Debates, Legislation
Learning Objectives
- Understand all the methods that Parliament uses to hold the Executive to account
- Understand how Government has to respond to the different methods of scrutiny
- Understand the different types of PQ and how the Government responds
- Learn about how Debates are conducted in Parliament
- A greater understanding of the role and structure of Select Committees in Parliament, and their influence on Government policy and decisions
- Learn about the stages of an inquiry, including topic selection, conducting the inquiry, producing a report, Government’s response, debates, evaluation
- Understand what the different bodies are that audit central and local Government and how they operate
- Understand how a bill is scrutinised as it proceeds through Parliament, and the role of pre-legislative scrutiny
Policy and Strategy Skills
Civil Servants Guide to Policy: Working with Partners and Stakeholders Learning Objectives
- Working smarter with partners for delivery
- Understanding partners and getting the best from them
- Anticipating problems in partnership and dealing with them
- How to identify, categorise and manage stakeholders
- Identifying stakeholders and engaging them in the policy process
- Management of stakeholders
- Understand stakeholder consultation best practice
- Understand the range of consultation methods available
Civil Servants Guide to Policy: Policy Design and Development Workshop
Learning Objectives
- Learn how to assess a problem
- Learn how to analyse and evaluate policy choices
- Learn about the key characteristics of well-designed policy
- Understand current best practice in policy making and Government guidelines
- Learn about Impact Assessments
- Understand the policy life cycle, from initial idea to policy delivery and evaluation
- Develop your skills as a policy maker
Civil Servants Guide to Policy: Effective Policy Delivery
Learning Objectives
- Learn how to measure the impact of policies
- Learn how to monitor and evaluate the success of policies
- Understand how to effectively communicate your policy to stakeholders
- Understand the needs of your audience and how to segment your message
- Understand the basic principles and skills of project planning
- Learn how to identify, assess and manage risks
- Applying risk management day to day
- Understand the role of Impact Assessments
- Recognise the obstacles and challenges facing effective policy delivery
Civil Servants Guide to Policy: Evidence Based Policy & Evaluation Workshop
Learning Objectives
- Learn about different types of evidence, and their relative strengths and weaknesses
- Learn how and where to source evidence
- Understand how to analyse, validate and use evidence
- Understand alternative sources of information to ‘evidence‘ based policy
- Evaluation as a three stage process to inform policy and operations
- Best practice in consultation
POLITICAL MANIFESTO
How to Write Effective Political Manifesto
Manifesto is a publication issued by a political party before a General Election. It contains the set of policies that the party stands for and things they would like to implement in office.
Training will cover the following:
- Why have a manifesto
- Content and structure
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Politician requires effective communication, and speaking confidently in public is a key part of that. Improving public speaking helps to sell ideas better, inspire people and getting ideas across to your audience confidently.
Training will cover the following:
- Preparation
- Delivery
Other Training Programmes
- Income generation for local government
- Oversight and Accountability
- Understanding the Budget Process
- Conducting Effective Constituency Outreach Relations / Citizen Engagement
- Media Relations and Communication Skills for Elected Officials
- Legislative Research and Analytical Skills
- Education policy
- Housing management
- Strategic Planning for the Leadership of the State House of Assembly.