Training Costs
Where applicable, we publish responses to requests under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This one, Training Costs, is detailed below.
Other FOI's
Ref: FOI22040
RE: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST
I am writing to confirm that the West Midlands Fire Service has now completed its search for the information you requested further to your freedom of information request.
Please find below a summary of our findings.
Request
I would like to ascertain the amount spent on training and the number of staff trained each year for the fire and rescue services for the years between 2018 and 2022.
Reply
West Midlands Fire Service has spent the following amounts on external training
2018/19 – £422673.06
2019/20 – £598285.28
2020/21 – £436365.71
2021/22 – £640015.50
Additionally, most employees complete training provided by our Organisational Learning and Development team. As this is provided internally, we do not have the cost for this available, therefore this information is exempt under section 1 of the freedom of Information Act 2000. However I can provide you with a list of employees who work in organisational learning and development (OLPD) in April 2018 – 2022, please see below. This includes all those involved in training at the following work locations: WMFS Command Development Centre, Driver Training, Headquarters, or Station Training Facilities based at individual Fire Stations. The salary information is publicly available at the following links
https://www.fbu.org.uk/pay-rates
https://www.slcc.co.uk/2021-22-national-salary-award/
The information concerning the number of staff who have attended training internally is collated by course. To find the full number of those who have undertaken some form of training would mean that the figures for each course would need to be downloaded and cross referenced this is due to the number of different ways in which our systems organise and record training and the current systems functionality in being able to identify training statistics. Therefore this part of your request is refused under Section 12 of the FOIA as to complete this task would take approximately 46 hours.
If you have any queries about this Freedom of Information request, please contact us. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
For service complaints, issues or comments regarding this request please contact The Public Relations Department, West Midlands Fire Service, 99 Vauxhall Road, Birmingham, B7 4HW
Further information concerning Freedom of Information requests can be found on the Information Commissioner website at either the following link: https://ico.org.uk/ or at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, SK9 5AF.