The council, which employs some 6,800 members of staff, used to rely on external providers for its first aid training. However, by delivering the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK) First Aid training, Nottingham City Council is due to save in the region of £30,000 a year.

Corporate development consultant at Nottingham City Council, Dave Lawson, is responsible for consulting with key staff to understand the council’s business needs and designing and delivering projects to achieve the council’s objectives and improve its services. He has a long history of working with RLSS UK and its trading subsidiary and awarding body, IQL UK.

“Having worked with and been part of the RLSS UK for more than 18 years, I know their commitment to the quality of their awards and assessments, he says. “RLSS UK’s First Aid training courses are robust and ensure we meet all the relevant guidelines and procedures so that we are covered legally.”

Working closely with a group of facilitators, consultants and health and safety advisors from three different service areas within the council, Lawson trained eight new colleagues to deliver the RLSS UK’s First Aid training.

“We rolled out the training at the start of our financial year and trained 400 people in all aspects of first aid within the first six months. The most popular courses are the Paediatric First Aid and the Emergency First Aid at Work,” said Lawson.

A centralised booking system has been established for the council’s Corporate Safety Training, which staff can use to book their training. The new team meets every three months to discuss the training that has been delivered, review the evaluations and to look at future requirements for the organisation.

“Two of us have completed the Level 4 Internal Quality Assurance Award, so that, through the RLSS UK, we can manage our systems internally; reducing our costs/expenditure and continuously checking we are following the correct procedures,” Lawson added. The council has delivered training to 743 members of staff in the first nine months alone.

“Overall, Nottingham City Council would have paid in excess of £75,000 from February 2015 to December 2016 for first aid qualifications. The saving of £30,000, taking into account minimal initial training costs, meant savings remain within the council budget. We’re also left with a robust system to ensure the consistency of self-sufficient training delivery. This has been achieved with the support and guidance of the RLSS UK.”

More information: email: [email protected], call: 01789 773 994 or visit: www.rlss.org.uk