Continuing professional development is an important part of the Professional Expertise required of civil service scientists and engineers. This is often associated with membership of a professional institute that is able to award either the Chartered Scientist or Chartered Engineer qualification.
Working in a range of different organisations can make a significant contribution to your development. This is especially important if you have aspirations of reaching the Senior Civil Service (SCS). A useful way of identifying secondment opportunities is the civil service Interchange Initiative. This initiative promotes and encourages the exchange of people and good practice between the civil service and other sectors of the economy.
The Whitehall and Industry Group (WIG) is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that helps government and business build strong links and networks between key individuals and organisations, through sharing, learning and exchanging. This may also provide useful opportunities for broadening experience.
The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform runs a Week In Business scheme, which provides staff with the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the department's stakeholders. A similar scheme may exist in your organisation.
There is a large number of training providers that are relevant to part or all of the civil service science and engineering community. For obvious reasons, it is not possible to provide a full list here. Furthermore, your colleagues and line manager should have a good understanding of the organisations that are most relevant to your work. It is, however, worth mentioning the National School of Government (NSG), which provides a range of courses, including ones aligned with the Professional Skills for Government Core Skills. One advantage of NSG courses is the opportunity to network with people from across government.
