The Oxford Group Consulting and Training Ltd is delighted to announce that it is now accredited to Lot 16 Management and Leadership on the Buying Solutions framework agreement for Learning & Development and eLearning Solutions. This framework agreement is now available for use by the UK public sector and by using this EU compliant framework agreement, customers have easy access to the services that they require without the need for further procurement exercises. For added confidence, all suppliers have undergone competitive tendering and rigorous evaluation procedures to ensure their quality and competitive rates.

In particular, The Oxford Group has been appointed as one of the accredited suppliers to provide Management & Leadership knowledge and skills - a critical area across the public sector. As well as a wide range of management and leadership development programmes, the services we provide include executive coaching, teambuilding, facilitation and psychometric testing.

The framework agreement is built around the Professional Skills for Government competency framework, which sets out the skills standards all civil servants need and is used as the basis for all government departments' competency frameworks. All specialist Learning and Development requirements can be addressed through the framework agreements, and customers can use the further competition route where appropriate.

Commenting on the launch of the new framework agreement, Jane Nicolson, Category Manager at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said: "By collaborating with other Government departments we are able to greatly increase our buying power and access a much wider range of learning and development suppliers than DWP could do on its own. Having a framework agreement means we can work with a more manageable number of suppliers to ensure they develop a good understanding of our overarching objectives, culture and values which will, in turn, lead to improved learning and development services for DWP staff."

Nigel Purse, Managing Director of The Oxford Group commented: "We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded accredited status as part of this critical Government initiative. We have worked with a number of government departments in the past and see this framework agreement as an essential component for us to deepen our understanding of their requirements so that we can continue to develop solutions that have a real impact on their organisation."

For information, advice and support services on all aspects of the framework agreement and how you can access its services, call the Buying Solutions' Customer Service Desk on +44 (0) 845 410 2222 and ask to speak to a member of the Professional Services category team or visit www.buyingsolutions.gov.uk.