Surrey Training Officers Group

Each individual member of STOG is expected to contribute constructively their ideas, expertise, time and resources to achieve and promote the objectives of STOG.

The Surrey Training Officers Group (STOG) is composed of HR and Training Officers from all 11 local councils and Surrey County Council. It has been in existence since 1995. It meets roughly every six weeks to exchange information and best practice.

In 2004, the group identified a number of areas where they could work in partnership to improve access to learning. A shared training programme was top of their list of priorities. Despite the presence of the group, training up to that point had been left to individual Councils to organise. As a result, there was wide variation in methods used.

The first step was the creation of a post to set up and administer the shared training programme.A part-time Project Manager was recruited in early 2006 andis responsible for the development of the shared trainingprogramme. A part-time administrator was recruited later that year to support the programme and assist with on-going evaluation.

The shared programme is now in its fifth year and continues to be a great success. More than 700 staff from all 11 Councils and Surrey County Council (SCC) took part in 2008. There are about 90 courses run annually. They generally last one, two or three days and are presented by external consultants. They cover a variety of subjects from public speaking and minute-taking, to pre-retirement and workload management courses. The programme also provides a range of subjects aimed specifically at managers.

If you work at one of the 11 local authorities or SCC and would like further information or have any questions, please Contact Us.