New Public Services Training College - a reality

I was delighted to attend Cookstown Council Office on Wednesday night to formally acknowledge the business case approval of the new Joint Public Services Training College.

It has been a long journey since the provision of a purpose built training college was first suggested in recommendation 131 of the Patten Report in 1999. Since then the scope has been widened to include a multi agency training facility with our colleagues in the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the Prison Service. All of the services welcome this development and the provision of world class training facilities for your emergency and prison services now seem a reality.

The opportunities of the new facilities are endless, and whilst the capital is coming from Police, Fire and Rescue and Prisons, we have already received expressions of interest from other Northern Ireland Public Service providers and international colleagues to use the college. We also hope that there will be significant opportunities and benefits for the local community.

A lot of time and energy has already been invested to get the project to this stage and I would like to pay tribute to current and former colleagues, in all three services, who had the vision and determination to develop the concept of the provision of new training services.

This is a huge training investment and the £139m project will in the longer term save public money as we share facilities, replace outdated and dilapidated buildings, and reduce the duplication of overheads for all three services.

I very much look forward to the next stages which will include planning permission and tendering for the construction of the facility. It is hoped the first of our colleagues will be using the new college in the summer of 2015.