Ministry of Justice allocates £4 million in major digital skills drive

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has spent a combined total of £3,802,021 on digital skills training over the last three financial years, according to new research from a Parliament Street think tank

Official figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), also highlighted that, as part of a Technology Transition Programme (TTP) introduced by the MoJ, Windows 10 and Office 365 was recently deployed to over 30,000 staff.

During the 18 months roll-out of this technology, a team provided training for over 21,000 staff in Headquarters, HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Legal Aid Agency, Office of the Public Guardian and the Ministry’s Arms’ Length Bodies, whereby staffers completed pre and post-migration training across 524 sites.

Furthermore, the MoJ set up a series of digital training workshops and online courses, of which over three thousand members of staff attended between April 2017 and June 2019. Out of the 10 digital courses offered, the “Excel Foundation” course has been the most popular, with 1,211 staff members taking part.

The second and third most popular courses were for “Using social media in public services” and “Basic Digital Skills” which saw 465 and 377 partakers respectively.

The MoJ also facilitates an “Introduction to Agile Working” workshop which is an internally run course that provides attendees with an introduction to the way that the MoJ uses agile ways of working within its digital teams. Despite only taking on a maximum of two members of staff at a time, popularity for this course has soared over the last year, rising from 15 in 2018/19, to 44 so far in 2019/20.

Sheila Flavell, COO of FDM Group comments:

“Equipping workers with the latest digital skills is absolutely essential for delivering high quality, faster and more efficient public services. The MoJ’s forward-thinking approach involves embracing IT, agile working and social media to deliver legal services that are fit for the future.

“Tech skills are the lifeblood of the UK economy and offering high-quality training and support for existing workers and recruiting a new generation of digitally-adept graduates should be a top priority for all public sector organisations.”