Learning and Development Strategy

2020-2023

Disclaimer
This file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology.

Request this file in an accessible format

If you use a type of assistive technology like a screen reader and need a version of
this document in a more accessible format, contact us on the details below. Please
let us know what format you require. It may also help us if you say what assistive
technology you use.
Email: [email protected]
Call: 0300 020 3000
British Sign Language users should text on 07825 280346, specifying if you would
prefer your reply by sms, text or email.

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 1 of 13
Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3
Our Learning Strategy ............................................................................................ 3
Our Ambition ....................................................................................................... 3
What does our strategy look like? ....................................................................... 5
How will we develop the strategy? ...................................................................... 8
Supporting Our Learning Strategy ........................................................................ 13

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 2 of 13
Introduction
The 2021-2023 Learning and Development strategy has been written to support the
COPFS strategic plan’s three strategic goals:
• deliver high quality casework
• support our people
• improve our service
To support these goals, we have developed a strategy that sets out how the COPFS
Learning team will work with people, managers, and stakeholders to help the
organisation achieve these through engaging, innovative, and interactive learning
pathways.
Our success continues to rest on the knowledge, skills and expertise of our people,
from front line prosecutor through to our newest Fiscal Officer, each has a part to
play in the delivery of a quality prosecution service to secure justice for the people of
Scotland.
To continue delivering a service that ensures Scotland is safe from crime, disorder
and danger, our people need to continually develop their repertoire of knowledge,
skills and behaviours and apply the highest standards of professionalism and ethics
in everything they do. To achieve this, we need a learning culture that supports
people develop the knowledge and skills they need, when they need them.
Our focus for this strategy, until 2023, is to
• continue to support essential operational learning and development needs
• develop and begin introducing a systematic and sustainable approach to
learning and development that allows people to access a range of quality
learning opportunities. This builds a strong foundation to build on and ensure
that people and COPFS are supported now, and as our teams manage an
increasing more complex environment in the future.
The strategy will ensure that learning and development opportunities are available
throughout peoples’ careers and work in conjunction with the People Strategy “to
build a skilled, engaged and diverse workforce, investing in staff development and
strengthening our capacity to deliver an improved service”.

Our Learning Strategy

Our Ambition

Our ambition for the Learning Strategy is to support the COPFS vision by:
• introducing learning pathways to help people develop and progress
throughout their COPFS career

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 3 of 13
 • providing flexible, blended learning opportunities that people can access at
the time that is right for them and the role they are in
• growing the range of engaging and interactive learning opportunities available
to support our peoples’ development
• working with our managers, key stakeholders, and people to develop
meaningful learning that they enjoy, see, and feel the benefit of
• being structured in our approach so that our managers and people know what
COPFS Learning will be delivering for them
• Making best use of the work carried out through the Digital Strategy to make
learning is as “location neutral” and accessible as possible
• evaluating what we do, with a view of continually improving the learning
experience for all our people

What does our ambition mean?

Our ambition means we want to change how we work with managers and people:
From Reactive To Proactive

Reactive learning and development Planned and integrated learning and

activities development activities linked to strategic and
operational plans
Managers unclear about who does Managers and COPFS Learning working in
what partnership
People being “extracted” for training People being actively engaged in following
their learning pathways
Variations in training content and Consistency in content and delivery across
delivery across operational areas operational areas (variations dependent on
specific area needs only)
Ad-hoc one size fits all leadership and Tailored leadership and management
management development development linked to role and learning
pathway
Inconsistent evaluation of learning and Evaluation of learning is planned, and linked
development to organisational outcomes (tangible
measures)

By working more proactively, COPFS Learning can:

• support managers deliver their plans more effectively

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 4 of 13
 • provide blended learning opportunities for people so they can access learning
and development activities flexibly and at a time that is right for them
• reach agreement about what learning is more effective when delivered locally
and offer advice, guidance and support to local managers and teams who are
delivering their own training solutions
• work with managers to make managing their people’s learning as easy as
possible, using our expertise and learning management systems to support
this
• help to drive the positive behaviours, professionalism and ethics we want to
see from our colleagues by using role profiles and the Success Profiles more
fully in the learning pathways to explore what these look and feel like.
• Support key workstreams and Project Boards identify and address learning
and development needs
• help to share good practice across COPFS

Working this way will encourage our people to stay and grow with us for longer, allow
us to grow our reputation as an attractive employer further, and in turn support our
culture and skills base.
The team in COPFS Learning will have the knowledge, skills, and expertise to
support people, however we want and need our managers and people to work in
partnership with us to make this happen.

What does our strategy look like?

The Learning Strategy is designed to work across the whole of COPFS so that we
are developing our knowledge, skills, and behaviours consistently – one team
delivering a quality prosecution and death investigation service.
The strategy is underpinned by promotion of engaging learning through partnership
working to deliver integrated solution-based development for all.
There are two main areas of work: development and delivery.
Development includes:
• Learning pathways
o Deliver learning pathways (including induction), through training needs
analysis, linked to role profiles
o Link leadership, management and operational training to learning
pathways, and identify future skills
• Leadership and management

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 5 of 13
 o Develop leadership and management learning portfolios based on the
Success Profile, that focus on the knowledge, skills and behaviours
needed at all levels and the agreed learning pathways
• Legal training
o Review and refresh existing provision in legal training and the
accredited programme
o Review and refresh Trainee Programme in line with COPFS needs &
Law Society of Scotland criteria
• Accreditation
o Review existing provision in partnership with operational areas
o Link accreditation to learning portfolios where appropriate
• Development areas
o Support managers and key stakeholders develop learning and
development plans for their teams or key workstreams through the
PAR process
o Develop an engaging on-line and e-learning portfolio of learning
o Support all professionals to gain formal qualification or opportunities for
CPD
Delivery includes:
• Management of learning and development
o Manage and continually review learning pathways and associated
portfolios
• Blended learning
o Develop approaches for e-learning and blended learning across
COPFS
o Develop e-learning capabilities within COPFS Learning
o Implement a Learning Management System to support a blended
learning model
• Evaluation
o Develop a model for evaluation linked to ROI and operational
outcomes and implement through the Learning Management System
Figure 1 gives an overview of our strategy.

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 6 of 13
 Fig 1 COPFS Learning Strategy
Learning Pathways • Deliver learning pathways (including induction), through training needs analysis, linked to role profiles
• Link leadership, management and operational training to learning pathways, and identify future skills

Leadership and Management • Develop leadership and management learning portfolios based on the Success Profile, that focus on the
knowledge, skills and behaviours needed at all levels and the agreed learning pathways
Development

• Review and refresh existing provision in legal training and the accredited programme
Legal Training • Review and refresh Trainee Programme in line with COPFS needs & Law Society of Scotland criteria

• Review existing provision in partnership with operational areas

Accreditation • Link accreditation to learning portfolios where appropriate

• Support managers and key stakeholders develop learning and development plans for their teams or key
Development Areas workstreams through the PAR process
• Develop an engaging on-line and e-learning portfolio of learning
• Support all professionals to gain formal qualification or opportunities for CPD

Management of Learning and • Manage and continually review learning pathways and associated portfolios
Development
Delivery

• Develop approaches for e-learning and blended learning across COPFS

Blended learning
• Develop e-learning capabilities within COPFS Learning
• Implement a Learning Management System to support a blended learning model

Evaluation • Develop a model for evaluation linked to ROI and operational outcomes and implement through the
Learning Management System

Promotion of engaging learning through partnership working to deliver integrated solution-based development for all

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 7 of 13
How will we develop the strategy?

We will be systematic in our approach to developing our new way of working taking the following key steps.
COPFS Strategy Area to be developed Activity
“We will build a skilled, Learning Pathways Through the Future Ways of Working and Fair Futures work
engaged and diverse that is being carried out we have agreed role profiles and job
workforce, invest in staff families. COPFS Learning will use these to develop learning
development and pathways for each role to support people in own roles or
strengthen our capacity to prepare for new roles as part of the Career Movement and
deliver an improved Development policy. We will:
service.”
• detail out the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed
for each learning pathway through a training needs
analysis by working in partnership with managers and
people. This approach ensures that the pathways truly
reflect the knowledge, skills, and behaviours the role
needs
• learning pathways will identify what needs to be learned
when, within a role. We will work with managers and
people to identify what development should be taking
place within the first month, 3, 6, 18- and 24-month
period and beyond, dependent on what the role
requires.
Learning Pathways once completed will:
o form the basis for the learning portfolios that will guide
and support peoples’ development from their first day to
their last with us

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 8 of 13
 COPFS Strategy Area to be developed Activity
o support COPFS Learning identify and gain agreement
on what learning is corporate and they will manage and
deliver and what learning is more effectively delivered
locally.
Corporate development should focus on the knowledge, skills,
and behaviours COPFS needs to develop consistently across
all its teams to achieve its goals. At the very least this
includes:
• Leadership
• People Management
• Prosecution
COPFS Learning will discuss and agree these areas with
SET.
Operational learning activities will be agreed with managers.
COPFS Learning will support them in its development and
delivery model and ensure that there is consistency of content
and delivery quality across all operational areas as they
deliver their own learning.

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 9 of 13
 COPFS Strategy Area to be developed Activity
“Develop our future leaders Leadership and Management We will work with SET, SLT and HR to identify the specific
to inspire, innovate and learning opportunities learning outcomes that will support the development of
engage.” inspirational, innovative, and engaging leaders across our
structure. Our aim will be to equip them with the knowledge,
skills, and behaviours they need now and, in the future, to
support the development of the organisation and its culture.
This work will be based on:
• the Learning Pathways for their roles
• the Success Profile
• best practice

“Invest in our people to give Learning material development • Priority areas for development to be identified based
them the skills and on:
knowledge they will need to
meet public expectations of o Learning Pathways
our service.” o feedback from operational areas
o consultation with SET and SLT
“Encourage and support our • Current provision will be reviewed to identify what
people to make greater use learning activities remain relevant for the pathways and
of their professional agreed priority areas, with activities being refreshed,
judgement and skills to developed, or removed accordingly. This creates
make the right decision at current and relevant content for portfolios.
the right time.”
• Portfolios will be developed based on:

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 10 of 13
 COPFS Strategy Area to be developed Activity
o agreed learning outcomes
o the COPFS Success Profile (a framework for
knowledge, skills, and behaviours)
o accessing existing relevant learning material from
Civil Service Learning
o developing relevant content where required
These portfolios will include interactive e-learning and blended
learning options which could include, video case studies,
podcast, reading materials, as well as courses. The content
will be refreshed and built on over time
• Review and re-energising of the Learning and
Development PF Eye page and Learning and Development
Portal to support the new learning framework we are
putting in place.
. Delivery Once agreed, Learning Pathways and the associated learning
portfolios will be introduced to the organisation in a
systematic, phased manner to allow COPFS learning to
support their implementation
The introduction of Learning Pathways will be supported by
information sessions, and guidance so that managers and
people understand what they mean, how they can be used
and what is expected of them. These sessions will be
interactive and as business partners, COPFS Learning will be

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 11 of 13
 COPFS Strategy Area to be developed Activity
meeting with the operational management teams regularly to
offer additional support as required.
COPFS Learning will use the LMS system to audit and track
people’s progress through their pathway and will support
where necessary if any issues arise with the expected
progress.
. Evaluation Immediate:
• Course content and delivery
• Blended learning opportunities content
This evaluates the development work undertaken and
identifies where any improvements are needed.
Longer term:
• Impact of learning – what can people and managers
identify as the changes that have resulted from
learning. What can the COPFS KPIs tell the team?
This will link into business outcomes and the evaluation
framework the team will develop.
As our evaluation framework develops and matures increasing
informative data can be shared on the return on our
investment in learning and the business outcomes, we are
achieving

Learning and Development Strategy 2021-2023

Page 12 of 13
Supporting Our Learning Strategy
We will review our strategy in line with the strategic and business planning process
to ensure that it continues to support managers achieve their goals.
COPFS Learning will develop annual delivery plans to support the strategy,
balancing the development work that needs to take place with the ongoing delivery
of the essential learning needs agreed with our managers.
We will report regularly on the progress we make, the opportunities we have taken
and any barriers that we encounter.

Learning and Development Strategy 2020-2023

Page 13 of 13