About Us

Our Structure & Location

We are an independent business that is part of the UK’s largest independent provider of recruitment, flexible employment and development services – Pertemps Network Group (PNG).  Our offices are based in Harrogate and all members of our core team live in North Yorkshire. We are always on hand to provide support where it’s needed.

We operate a flat management structure and utilise associate resource to enable us to access a wide set of skills and abilities.

Our Core Team

All of our core team have previously worked on high profile, national policing projects through the College of Policing and precursor organisations (e.g. National Policing Improvement Agency and Centrex). Across these roles, the team has been responsible for overseeing the development of strategy and managing a range of national recruitment, learning, development and leadership programmes targeted at police officers and police staff of every rank/role from initial training to chief officer level.  Our collective portfolios of responsibility involved the recruitment, assessment, learning, development and training of over 30,000 candidates / delegates per year through the following programmes of work:

• Management of the National Policing Curriculum

• Initial Police Learning & Development Programme (IPLDP)

• Professionalising Investigation Programme (PIP)

• Intelligence Professionalisation Programme (IPP)

• Core Leadership Programme (CLP)

• Professional Development Programme (PDP)

• National Professional Development Review (PDR) Guidance

• Assessment and Recognition of Competence (ARC)

• National Police Promotions Framework (NPPF)

• National Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework

• Police Professional Framework (PPF) being developed by Skills for Justice

• Assessor Support Guidance and Training Resources

• Integration of Code of Ethics into the National Policing Curriculum

• Initiation of the National Career Pathways Framework

• Fast Track & Direct Entry Programme – Assessment Centre & Learning Programme

• National Senior Careers Advisory Service (NSCAS)

• High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) – Assessment Centre

• High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) – Learning Programme

• Senior Police National Assessment Centre Design & Delivery

• Strategic Command Course (SCC) Programme Development

• Chief Officer Appointment Selection

Our Associates

We take great pride in the quality of our core team along with the professionalism of our ‘Associate Bank’. We have access to a vast range of Associates. All have extensive policing experience.

Prior to being allocated to any project, our Associates are selected against the relevant role profile with pre-requisite qualifications, relevant experience and associated competencies.  Before completing our application form  they are required to review our Self-Selection Questionnaire which has been designed to help ensure that they are both eligible to work for us and that they understand and share commitment to our vision, mission, values and operating procedures -  prior to submitting an application to be part of our team.  Those who do wish to work with us apply via a formal competency and experience based application form which is assessed to ensure an appropriate level of experience and ability relevant to the role. Subject to successful sifting each applicant is invited to attend a competency based selection interview.

After successfully passing the competency based interview each Associate is invited to join our resource bank. This is followed by a formal induction programme and project specific briefing events prior to deployment on any piece of work. Where security clearance and vetting is required we select individuals with relevant current clearance, or will follow the necessary procedures in order to meet the specified level of security clearance / vetting required.

As part of our ongoing commitment to staff, we support our Associates with their own Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to ensure that they are all up-to-date with relevant changes.

Continuity and Resilience

The delivery of each Client project is overseen by our core team who are permanently employed by PPD.  This ensures management continuity throughout the term of any contract.  We allocate Associates to deliver projects based on the most appropriate skill and experience for the needs outlined in the Client Request for Quotation / Tender / Proposal. We allocate Associates who are able to commit to the full contract term that the Client needs.  We can however manage change and do employ contingency measures as appropriate.

Our success is built on the quality, experience and the exceptional people that we employ and expert capability we can provide. We hold a bank of Associates with proven track records and experience across a range of roles and sectors. This provides us with the resilience to guarantee continued delivery even where unforeseen issues and complications arise.

Our flexible resource pool is managed by our dedicated Programme / Project Manager to allocate the right people with the right skills to respective projects. The ongoing management of our resource is always overseen by a member of our core team who will ultimately be accountable for the effective delivery of any Client project. We utilise resource planning tools to monitor Associate allocation to projects and due to the volume of experience and skilled resource we have access to we can easily manage the need for specialist resource, business continuity or re-alignment of the right people as the remit of work changes or develops over time.

Our project management processes and Associate training packages also ensure the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of our resource pool. Furthermore, where we deploy Associates on longer term engagements we adapt our appraisal / performance management processes to ensure that we are monitoring performance, supporting and developing members of our team accordingly.

As a result, even though at the point of proposing a solution to the Client we do not anticipate any changes in personnel, our overarching operating model (along with the methodologies we apply during delivery activity) have been established to ensure that Client specific needs are met even in the event of unexpected change.

Our Standards

Our approach and overall aim is to work in partnership with our clients to get a full understanding of their requirements and any specific local needs or expectations so we can design and deliver solutions that demonstrate the professionalism and quality of our programme and service provision.

As such, we only employ people with the right qualifications and skills for the right job.

We design and deliver our products and services by drawing upon the latest research, professional expertise, our in-depth knowledge of policing and previous experience all underpinned by recognised principles, professional standards and guidelines that include:

• National Policing Learning & Development Approach (College of Policing)

• Learning and Performance Institute Code of Practice

• ISO 9001 – Quality Management (organisational accreditation achieved)

• ISO 10667 - Effective Assessment of People

• International Task Force on Assessment Centre Guidelines

• British Psychology Society (BPS) - Design, Implementation & Evaluation of Assessment & Development Centres; Best Practice Guidelines

In relation to the quality assurance of Learning and Development programmes in particular, members of our core team were responsible for the development of the Police Service Quality Assurance (PSQA) Scheme and implementation as well as the development and ongoing management of the Police Service Quality Management System (PSQMS). So we are fully conversant with the requirements of the scheme and make sure that we adhere to the principles of the PSQA Scheme and specific requirements for providers to have internal governance arrangements that support delivery of national standards and competence requirements, as well as arrangements that support the efficient, effective and economic delivery of learning and professional development provision within policing. As a result, we adopt an approach to quality assurance that comprises the six key themes of learning and professional development outlined in the PSQA Scheme:

• Strategic Governance

• Strategic Planning and Commissioning

• Design

• Delivery

• Assessment

• Evaluation and Performance Outcomes