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How does Whitehall really work?
It can be hard to understand the workings of Whitehall. There are multiple departments, plus all their agencies and arms-length bodies. The policy-making landscape is complex and involves Whitehall, external stakeholders, and Parliament. This course will demystify how Whitehall works and will give participants a good insight into the practices and processes that the civil service and Ministers used to create policy.
We will cover the informal and formal aspects of working in Whitehall. The course is suitable for those who are working in Whitehall and may want a broader picture, but also for those who need to work with Whitehall and would like to understand the civil service and Government better. The trainer will use case studies and personal experiences from a long career at the centre of Whitehall to bring the issues to life.
Key Training Features:
- Introduction to Whitehall, the Civil Service and the Departmental/Agency/public bodies structure
- Understanding how business gets done in Government and how policy is developed across Whitehall
- How do Ministers operate?
- Formal and informal aspects of working in or with Whitehall
- Explanation of the interactions between Whitehall and Parliament
- Exploring the respective roles of Ministers, the Civil Service and Parliament
Who Can Attend:
Civil Servants and wider public sector employees who want an introduction to how the Civil Service and Government work. Also relevant to private-sector employees who need to work with Whitehall.
Learning Outcomes:
Participants will get a good understanding of how Whitehall and the Civil Service operates from a formal and informal point of view. Participants will also cover the relationship between Whitehall and Parliament. Participants will have a good understanding of the different rules and responsibilities for Civil Servants, Ministers and Special Advisors. Participants will also look at how to operate successfully within Whitehall (and how to engage with Whitehall if you are outside of it).
Summary
Duration
10:00 - 16:00
Price
£595 + VAT
Location
Face to Face or Virtual
Face to Face
VirtualIn-House Option
This course is available In-House and can be tailored to meet your individual training requirements.
EnquireLead Trainer
Thomas Foster
Thomas Foster joined the UK Civil Service as a Fast Streamer in 2009, gaining first-hand experience of the coalition negotiations that followed the general election. He subsequently contributed to the emergency Spending Review and worked on the design of major government programmes, including the Work Programme and Universal Credit.
Read BioThomas Foster
Thomas Foster joined the Civil Service as a Fast Streamer in autumn 2009, in time for an inside view of the first peacetime coalition negotiations for almost a century. He participated in the subsequent emergency Spending Review and went on to play a role in designing the incoming government’s flagship Work Programme and Universal Credit policies. Later, he moved into areas as diverse as financial regulation and designing new financial instruments for private‑sector investors, and, at the other extreme, frontline management in a Jobcentre in one of the most deprived wards in London.
In 2015, he joined the Department for Transport, where he built and ran a public and parliamentary communications team for the rail franchising programme. This period oversaw one of the most active and controversial phases in the twenty‑year history of privatised rail. He then moved into a policy and regulatory role as Deputy Head of Local Transport, where he oversaw one of the biggest open data projects in UK government history, as well as a widespread review of the future of regulation in the taxi and private hire sector. Since 2020, Thomas has worked full‑time as a coach, trainer, and consultant.
Prior to joining the Civil Service, Thomas attended law school in York, studied Politics and Contemporary History at university, and worked in a variety of private‑sector roles, including executive search and recruitment for UK‑based financial services companies.
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