Why do you want to spend taxpayers' money to complete your CPD? I presume that you want to go on a course, or to an exhibition, conference etc. But CPD can and does include so much more than that. It entails reading, journals and textbooks, with access to resources through a variety of professional bodies etc, membership of which is tax deductible. That should give you a very good start If you are an NHS employee then you have access to so much more, almost all of it free of charge - the taxpayer has already done that for you. The resources available amount to an enviable list, but you may have to do a little work to find them, and then find the correct arrangements for access.

Sorry, After reading my post again, it is not clear. The post was not about maintaining CPD but training, and how to keep yourself competent in the role of a fire advisor within the NHS. There is a strong argument at present regarding accreditation for fire advisors in the NHS. That's the views I was after. What training have you had, and has any additional training been paid for by your trust?

if the person has not done the courses then they should not be in the role See HTM05-01 Page 19 it says exactly what the person should have to be a fire safety advisor CPD --- if your NAHFO branch is ran as good as mine and you attend all of the meetings the outside speakers and the training given and new advances meantioned and gone through at the meetings will give you ample credits towards your CPD there are also plenty of free courses to attend such as hilti goingthrough there fire stopping and fire door companies telling of there products , the local iosh branch usally runs others free of charge on health and safety so cpd can be free as long as you search it out or ask your boss they may give you £6000 towards something like offshore fire fighting, or takling underground mine fires - a bit of practicle training never comes in wrong -- mine wont give me a fiver for a fire sign , so practicle for me is a no no even though it would take me back to the good old days of fire balls , protection sprays and breathing apperatus ahh yes the good old days when they used wood, tar and old tyres with diesal poured on, a super heated temperatures -- now training is a small gas fire with no smoke if there is its false, Health and Safety???? Stops Fun

Psycho: I am a bit confused about your post. Unless I am mistaken, you seem to be deriding Hospital Boy's grumble about his employer having insufficient funds for training. You seem to be saying that 'free' training is available, so there's no need for employers to pay out for courses. If that is your view, then I totally disagree. I have absolutely nothing against the training/CPD events that you refer to and attend many myself. However, IMHO your employer is obliged by the Fire Safety Order to provide fire safety training for their fire safety advisor - that is, if you set up your management systems wisely. Let me explain how it works with my employer: An employer must appoint competent persons to assist him with fire safety duties (paraphrased from Article 18). Furthermore, he is obliged to provide staff training which must "be provided in a manner appropriate to the risk identified by the risk assessment" (Article 21). In the fire risk assessments I produce for my employers, the FRA report states that staff training will be provided in accordance with the companies fire safety strategy. And guess what, the fire safety strategy has a paragraph that says the employer is responsible to provide adequate training to allow the company's Fire Safety Officer to maintain his competence to allow him/her to carry out their duties in accordance with Article 18. OK, I have managed this as I complied the fire safety strategy, which my employers signed off after passing the document through their legal team. The result is I get access to a reasonable amount of training every year, paid for by my employers. I respect that they are a responsible publicly funded Govt Dept (not a NHS Trust) so do not the backside out of this arrangement. I have attended courses on fire investigation, fire alarms and sprinklers in the last two years. (& free events) I simply could not work for any organisation who did not acknowledge my professional status and provide adequate continuation training. I also work under tight financial budgets, but again would have difficulty if my employer's attitude resembled your (presumably light hearted ) description of yours, in that they would not "give me a fiver for a fire sign". What sort of attitude is that?