The NPSA supports professional development across the security sector through expert guidance, training and industry partnerships. How do these initiatives help practitioners build the skills needed to respond to evolving security threats?
As the National Technical Authority for Protective Security, NPSA has an important role in helping those responsible for security have access to the information and tools they need to understand, and appropriately mitigate, the risks they face from terrorism, sabotage and espionage.
Supporting training and professional development is an essential part of this role, and we take a multi-pronged approach, working closely with partners best placed to ensure our messages reach the right audiences.
Security is multi-faceted so everyone with a responsibility for security needs a range of knowledge and skills to be effective. That’s not to say that everyone needs to be expert in everything; but in a changing world, commitment to your own and others’ continuing professional development is essential.
Pretty much every organisation in the UK will face a variety of security threats, ranging from revenue loss and criminal damage to national security threats such as terrorism, sabotage and espionage. One of the biggest challenges in security is striking the right balance in managing these threats. Focus too heavily on one that seems particularly pressing, and there’s a real risk that others are overlooked. With the likelihood of a terrorist attack occurring at a particular location on a given day being very low, it can be easier to focus on here-and-now issues such as theft, despite the significant impact a terrorist attack could have.
To help meet these security challenges, there’s a complex eco-system of organisations helping manage security risks, spanning security consultancies, product and service providers, professional and trade bodies, police and government stakeholders, regulators, and standards bodies. This makes a focus on partnerships essential to success.
Maximising reach through partnerships
NPSA therefore works closely with security professionals to maximise the reach of its advice and guidance, and in turn benefits from their input through shared thinking and best practice. This exchange underpins our support for two key professional registers, the Register of Chartered Security Professionals (CSyP) and the Register of Security Engineers and Specialists (RSES), whose members and principals receive an introductory briefing on our roles and capabilities; access to our tools, guidance and best practice; invitations to professional development events; and places on our training courses, where the case can be made.
Beyond these registers, NPSA takes a similar partnership approach to shaping standards and qualifications across the sector. Working alongside the Security Institute and government counterparts, we helped develop the Level 4 Protective Security Adviser Qualification and Apprenticeship, giving practitioners a recognised route into the profession. It is represented on the British Standards Institution’s GW/3 technical committee for Private Security Management and Services standards, ensuring that national security threats and mitigations are properly accounted for in security service provision, and in the competence and training of personnel. Alongside the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO), we also support the Security Industry Authority (SIA) in ensuring their knowledge and skills specifications keep pace with the national security threat picture.
This same principle, that the best outcomes come from combining NPSA’s threat expertise with partners’ reach and specialist knowledge, shapes our approach to frontline training too. Drawing on over a decade of research into how organisations can respond most effectively to terrorist attacks to save lives, we have designed courses for Security Control Room Operators and Managers at www.scrcourse.co.uk, delivered in partnership with the University of Greenwich.
Free, authoritative guidance and training
In recent years, we have significantly expanded and enhanced the free, regularly updated guidance available at www.npsa.gov.uk for security stakeholders across a wide range of sectors and roles.
We have also launched a new digital learning platform, offering free, on-demand learning across protective security topics, including Fundamentals of Personnel and Physical Security, Hostile Vehicle Mitigation, Insider Risk Management and Security Culture, with more modules coming soon. The platform is open to anyone, all content is free, and certificates can be downloaded on completion.
To sign up, please visit https://learn.npsa.gov.uk/login/signup.php
In a constantly evolving world, it’s essential that everyone with security responsibilities stays on top of developments.
Following us on LinkedIn and regularly visiting www.npsa.gov.uk can help you stay up to date in countering national security threats.
To follow NPSA on LinkedIn, please visit www.linkedin.com/company/national-protective-security-authority
