Swindon Council is set to award 31 staff National Vocational Qualifications following an in-house training scheme that has saved the council thousands of pounds.

The council's own NVQ assessment centre, set up and run by Swindon Services, offers modern apprenticeships and training in all six key skills: IT, communication, numeracy, learning development, working with others and problem solving.

The centre allows council departments to make more efficient use of their training budgets.