§ Mr. MacShaneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the companies authorised by his Department to organise tuition and examinations for promotion in the police force. [138658]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeThe only qualifying examinations for promotion to Sergeant and Inspector (known as OSPRETM) are organised on behalf of the Police Promotion Examinations Board by the Examinations and Assessment unit of National Police Training (NPT), who are assisted in the administration of the examinations by the Improvement and Development Agency.
The only authorised training package is the Candidates' Development Programme (CDP) produced by NPT. The CDP, which only addresses Part II of the examinations, has been made available to every police force in England and Wales together with a training workshop for their nominated training staff. In addition, three private training providers were awarded a franchise to deliver the CDP:
IODA based in Nottingham;
VECTRA based in Bradford; and
QSEC based in Liverpool.
No company or individual is authorised by NPT to provide tuition for Part I of the examinations which is based on Blackstone's Police Manuals published by Blackstone Press Limited.