Questions have been raised over Coventry City Council paying thousands of pounds to fund two staff members' doctorates at a local university. The council has a contract worth £82,201 with Coventry University to deliver the qualification from 2021-25, according to its public register.
These doctorates of business administration (DBA) are being done by the council's "two most senior HR officers", a councillor told a meeting last week. Labour Cllr Ed Ruane said: "[I'm] aware the two most senior HR officers had the opportunity to do a doctorate paid fully by the council - how does anyone else at the council get the opportunity to do that?"
He asked where the money is coming from for the "£80 grand qualification" as it can't be funded by an apprenticeship levy. The funding is also worth more than the entire Corporate Learning and Development budget for this year, £59,297, according to council papers.
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"What's the benefit to the council for staff to do a doctorate?" Cllr Ruane added in questions put to chief operating officer, Barry Hastie. "I passionately believe in lifelong learning, [but] how is that opportunity being provided to other staff?"
In his answers to Cllr Ruane, Mr Hastie did not deny the council is paying for this but said he was not aware of anyone being denied the opportunity. He said any learning and development comes from the appraisal process or a desire to develop some areas.
At this level of qualification, it is "probably a case-by-case basis - you would expect it to be a fairly strong business case," he said. The request would come through line managers and most likely after being raised by employees, he later added.
The council's director of HR, Susanna Newing, and head of people Grace Haynes are the staff members doing the qualifications. Both have doctorates at Coventry University starting in 2021 listed on their public LinkedIn profiles.
The pair were at the meeting last week but were not asked directly about the issue. Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) about the £80,000 funding for the pair's qualifications, Coventry City Council claimed it would bring the organisation benefits.
A council spokesperson said: "The two members of staff are undertaking Doctorates of Business Administration (DBA) that focus on work-based issues to benefit the organisation. "A DBA is equivalent to a PhD, but focuses on strategic business problems rather than purely academic questions.
"These pieces of work are research projects paid for from an existing corporate development budget that is used to invest in staff training and development. "This approach helps us to improve how the local authority delivers services in a progressive way, by better understanding the needs within the communities we serve.
"DBAs provide a mutual benefit to develop the individuals to create strategic solutions for challenging issues the council is faced with and put forward recommendations on approaches and strategies that allow us to continue to fairly represent the people in our city." Other council employees have had the chance to do this but it is part of a wider development programme aimed at staff at all levels.
The doctorates are on how the council can improve its diversity and inclusion so it has a more representative workforce, and on trade union relationships. Both members of staff must pay the investment back if they leave the council within three years, and do the work in their own time.
Coventry University fees for DBAs in 2023/24 are £13,700 per year and the qualifications can only be done part time. "The DBA is designed for practising managers with the experience and roles to facilitate impactful change within their organisations as a result of their research," its website states.
