PoliticalMethodology
Aims and Objectives
This website aims to identify drivers of change which may have future workforce skill implications on the police service in England & Wales. The drivers of change were identified using the horizon scanning tool, PESTL analysis.
The Method
A PESTL analysis can be used to identify both macro and micro environmental factors within which an organisation operates. The analysis entails scanning the following areas where change occurs to provide a way of auditing influences that have impacted in the past and how they might do so in the future:
- Political
- Economic
- Social
- Technology
- Legal
- Environmental*
For each are of change, 'Skills Drivers' were assigned. A 'Skills Drivers' is an aspect of the environment that affects a change on skills needed by the workforce to respond to this change.
In some instances, a 'Skills Driver' might have influences emerging from more than one are of change. These 'Skills Drivers' can be found in the Cross Cutting Themes section.
How the scanning took place?
The scanning took place over the whole of 2008-09 looking two to three years in the future. Evidence for the drivers and skills needs were gathered through desk research, reviewing documents available in the public domain. Typical resources used in the analysis include:
- policy documents such as Green and White Papers
- consultations
- action and business plans
- strategy documents
- statistics
- annual reports
- legislation
- guidance documents
- funding streams
- research reports and
- news sources
Identifying Skills Drivers and Skills Needs...
Each Skills Driver contains the background / context as well as the evidence for the identification of the driver and skills it will impact upon.
The skills needs are then combined for each area of change and a context for each skill is provided. In addition, skills needs are allocated to key workforce groups, depending on relevance, such as:
- police officer and staff
- frontline staff / officer and managerial levels
- first line manager, middle and senior manager
How do we keep the scan up-to-date?
When the website was first launched in August 2009, it reflected continuous scanning over 2008-09.
After August 2009, bi-monthly scanning will occur and any new drivers, updated drivers or new skills needs will be added to the website in as necessary. At the end of the yearly cycle, a review of all drivers included in the change areas will be assessed and updated. The aim is to keep the website as dynamic as possible, reflecting the changing landscape within which the police service operate.
An evolving process
The Skills Drivers and skills needs presented here are based solely on desk research and evidence gathered during the horizon scanning process. This site provides an overview of the underpinning knowledge about the policy and operational environment within which skills needs will emerge. Using this contextual information as a starting point it is hoped that stakeholder contributions will provide greater understanding and insight into the skills drivers and skills needs.
The feedback function on each page allows users to share opinions regarding the relevance, priority, impact and content of each driver and set of skills needs. Feedback from those involved will help provide further context to aid the development of the website.
All amendments will be gathered and wherever possible, included into further updates / amendments to the content of the website.
* Horizon scanning can include environmental drivers but at the time of publishing the website this particular area was not included but will be in the future.
Disclaimer - Content in the website has been supplied by external source/s. Skills for Justice can take no responsibility for the accuracy of the material nor should their inclusion be taken to indicate Skills for Justice endorsement.