What is Professional Skills for Government (PSG) and why do we need it?
These questions are answered on the Cabinet Office FAQ site, and the following paragraphs are based on information from that source.
Professional Skills for Government (PSG) is a programme of action agreed by the Civil Service Management Board (CSMB) to ensure that civil servants have the skills and experience needed to design and deliver 21st century services.
The Civil Service is going through a great deal of change, all designed to focus resources on front-line services. The Gershon Review of public sector efficiency and the Lyons Review of public sector relocation are part of this. PSG is another part. It identifies the skills we need in order to design and deliver customer-driven services, gives individuals the opportunities to gain those skills, and creates a more systematic and consistent approach to skills and career development.
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Who qualifies as a Scientist / Engineer?
The PSG structure includes an increasing number of professions, including that of Scientist / Engineer. Whilst a precise list of qualifying criteria is not considered appropriate, we would expect the vast majority of scientists and engineers to have:
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A first, or subsequent, degree, or other qualification, in a relevant discipline
- A desire to conduct Continuing Professional Development in science or engineering, possibly leading to the award of either Chartered Scientist or Chartered Engineer
If you are unsure whether the Scientist / Engineer profession is most appropriate for you then there may be benefit in investigating other closely‑related PSG professions, including Economist, IT Professional, Social Researcher, Statistician and Veterinarian. Information on these professions is available, in the first instance, from the PSG website.
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How do I know which "career grouping" I am in?
The easiest way to identify which of the three PSG career groupings is most appropriate is to consider the primary stakeholders for your work. This approach is illustrated below.
- Corporate Services Delivery
In this case the main stakeholder is your own organisation. Examples include: developing a bar coding system to track samples through a laboratory; introducing quality assurance procedures into a laboratory
- Operational Delivery
In this case the main stakeholders are those supplied or serviced by your organisation. Examples include: testing samples for the presence of banned substances; supporting the production and delivery of a new submarine
- Policy Delivery
In this case the main stakeholder is a government department. Examples include: investigating the future energy needs of the UK; considering the contribution of UK forests to the carbon cycle; estimating how much salt a person should consume.
In a small number of cases the career grouping may not be a precise fit. In such cases individuals may wish to consider the main context within which they are working. Please note that any ambiguity cannot be used to claim that you have worked across different career groupings without changing the nature of your job!
It may, however, be possible to move between career groupings, whilst staying in the same specialist area. For example, work to support a decision on whether Tasers should be made available to Authorised Firearms Officers would probably fall into the Policy Delivery grouping. In contrast, supporting the development of operational guidance for the use of Tasers would probably fall into the Operational Delivery grouping. The key difference here is that in the former case we would expect scientists and engineers to work alongside policy officials, whilst in the latter we would expect close working relationships with serving police officers. To count as working in two career groupings you must be able to show significant changes in both the stakeholder community and the nature of the work.
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Is PSG just a "box ticking" exercise?
Absolutely not! To quote Sir Gus O'Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary:
"PSG is about more than ticking boxes on a list of skills. PSG represents a 'culture shift', not a 'paper sift'."
PSG exists to help individuals with their development and the PSG framework should be used constructively for that purpose. Simply ticking boxes will not do this.
This point is also emphasised in the Learning and Development document for the Scientist / Engineer profession, which highlights the importance of demonstrating the relevant skills in your day‑to‑day work, rather than simply attending training courses.
Whilst they could be perceived as leading to a "box ticking" exercise, the clear statements of what skills are required at the three PSG career gateways are actually of great value. In particular, for the first time they provide individuals with unambiguous information that allows them to plan and develop their careers.
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What about staff below Grade 7?
The first career gateway in the PSG framework is at Grade 7, with the others being at Senior Civil Service (SCS) Pay Band 1 and SCS Pay Band 3. Some people have mistakenly interpreted this as signifying that PSG only applies to staff in posts at Grade 7 and above. In reality PSG is applicable to all staff.
Since Grade 7 is considered a reasonable career aspiration for the majority of scientists and engineers, we would expect staff to be working towards this grade. This means that, over time, you should be seeking to develop and demonstrate the skills in the Scientist / Engineer Skills Framework.
Whilst all the skills in the framework are important, some are of more relevance to staff in the early part of their careers. These include (in no particular order):
- Secure, maintain and develop relevant technical expertise.
- Apply scientific/technical knowledge
- Understand and comply with the statutory (and non-statutory where applicable) requirements of my current role
In addition to the above general comments, you may find that more detailed arrangements for staff below Grade 7 have been put in place locally. If this is the case then more information should be available from your line manager.
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What support is available?
Initially, you should seek support from your line manager and Human Resources section, since they will have a good understanding of your skills, ambitions and local circumstances.
To assist you in these discussions, the HoSEP Team have produced a Learning and Development document. This provides guidance on activities that will help you acquire and demonstrate the skills in the Scientist / Engineer framework. Further guidance and support will be provided on the HoSEP Team web site, which is expected to "go live" in April 2006.
Your departmental Head of Profession should also be able to provide assistance, especially in terms of breaking down barriers within their departments.
The HoSEP Team can also provide general support on cross government issues.
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What if I do not currently have the skills required for my current grade?
Don't worry, you have time to develop them. For example, a PSG target is for 75% of the Senior Civil Service (SCS) to have demonstrated competence in the six SCS Core Skills by September 2007. Although no formal targets have been identified at the Grade 7 level it is reasonable to expect there to be a similar period of "upskilling".
However, the PSG skills now apply to all SCS recruitment and promotions. From April 2006 they should be used for recruitment, promotions and performance appraisals for staff at Grade 7 and above. This means that, as a minimum, you will be expected to be aware of any skills gaps that you may have and to have a plan that will address them.
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Is there any new money to support this agenda?
This question is one of those on the Cabinet Office FAQ site , and the answer provided there is given in the following paragraph.
"No. PSG means re-focussing existing skills development activities on those areas most needed by the modern civil service. We will be working jointly with departments to ensure that we harness effeciencies to get the most out of our investment in development (for example sharing access to training programmes). Many of the most effective development activities, such as gaining experience on the job, do not require new money."
We do, however, acknowledge that some elements of the Scientist / Engineer Skills Framework may have ongoing cost implications. For example, the skill that involves "securing, maintaining and developing relevant technical expertise" could reasonably include membership of relevant professional bodies.
In many cases departments and agencies already pay, or contribute to, membership fees for such organisations, but this approach is not adopted universally. We will be working with the Cabinet Office and departmental Heads of Profession (HoPs) to further extend this practice.
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What constitutes the "broader experience" necessary for SCS Jobs?
The Cabinet Office has provided quite detailed guidance on the "broader experience" that members, or aspiring members, of the Senior Civil Service (SCS) need to demonstrate.
The key requirement is that the experience of different career groupings should be "significant". The final judgement on what counts as significant is left to line managers and selection panels. However, important indicators are evidence that:
- There was real responsibility for delivering an outcome
- Real learning opportunities were exploited
- The experience lasted for sufficient time (generally at least six months)
It may be possible to move between career groupings whilst staying in the same specialist area. Whilst this does provide experience of the different career groupings it is likely to be very carefully scrutinised. If you chose to adopt this approach, make sure you can clearly show how your work changed between the two groupings. If you are seeking a "general" SCS post (i.e. one outside your specialist area) then there would be significant benefit in obtaining a wider range of broader experience.
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