Bond Solon Reviews

Simon was a very good speaker, patient with being interrupted and did his best to answer questions. Problems 1) Only given booklet day before course. This is ridiculous, we should have been sent both at least 2 weeks before, and instructed to have read it, as we will be tested on it in an MCQ. Nobody in course had recieved book until day before 2) Inform people about mcq, how long, how many questions, is there negative marking. Should also include some sample questions so we have an idea of the standard. The way this was done is very poor, and breaks all current educational theory. 3) Should cohort candidates and get experts in their field applicable, eg only healthcare people on 1 course and have a barrister who is an expert in healthcare law, and then can give case examples relevant to healthcare. Cases in book were not very helpful. Would be much more useful if got a specific healthcare related cases book. 4) Course finished 2 hrs early, not particularly good value for money. If finish early should go over other interesting topics after mcq.

overall good however a long day online and perhaps in person or two halves would be easier to manage

Good trainer, very knowledgeable. However it felt very lengthy and would be ideal to be condensed to a half day course

there were quite a lot of medical people on the course and it would help if were seperated as this would help use to be more specific to medical negligence claims etc

teh trainer was very knowledgable - knows her subject brilliantly however teh majority of it was not relevant to our organisation. Perhaps our organisation needs soemthing bespoke/ use a differmet provider woud have preffered to have more examples/ case studies whilst I know its not an exciting topic on the whole, deliverty was a little dry

Good overall course which met my objectives

Overall, the course was a good run through of what to expect on Confiscation. Points I'd like to raise are. The exercises were basic. However, I can see why this was the case because this course is clearly pitched at a level that can cater for both the experienced and inexperienced confiscator, and trying to satisfy the needs of both at the same time is difficult. Something else (unhelpful, I know) is needed to make this course more engaging. The course material as a whole felt unfinished, and to be fair to Olwen she did say it was a work in progress. On this point, I found myself wondering at times whether the manual is designed as a prompt for the trainer or a user manual for the confiscators? I don't think the format worked in this respect. I think a better format would be to take an example case, real or otherwise, break it down into component parts and get into the examination of what is required (procedure, practice, do's and don'ts, etc) at each stage. However, for those like myself who have recently completed the R&C course this will feel like repetition as this is largely how that course worked, but for those seeking a 'sandpit' to refresh and exercise I can see that this may appeal. I get the feeling that Bond Solon have been given a very broad brief and only a little time to create the course. I'm interested to know how the course material develops because something comprehensive on this subject would be very much appreciated.

I understood this to be training for strategic officers (I only attended as no police execs were spare). The content was mostly basic, probably a suitable introduction for people with little or no knowledge of the courts. The council sent junior EPO's, which the training was suitable for, but could have been done more effectively in house.

I feel that some ofthe course content was aimed at to low of levle to the people within the course and the atendiees would have already know about the subject matter. For example the difference between the internet and WWW.

There are some examples that don't follow the course. EG Pg 23 the example is not relevant to the course, it's not an acquisitive crime to discuss. Which then follows onto page 24 where D is assumed to be D in the earlier example. Another example on pg 25 attempts to demonstrate the removal of the 6 months offence period to lose Lifestyle however the underlying fraud of non payment of tax to the tune of £50k would probably hit lifestyle and lastly pg 80 the first paragraph says "Perhaps an estimate of time, such as" and then gives an example of the estimate of value of money. My last point about the document is that 2 chapters have virtually the same titles (7 & 8) and the material is almost repeated - maybe these can be merged? I loved the previous 2 Bond Solon courses, but this seemed that it wasn't quite ready to go ahead. The material is littered with spelling and punctuation errors, and I just felt the course was fleshing out the pre-read. Maybe a slideshow/PowerPoint would be a better tool for the presenter and then the students can follow in the pre-read? Also break-out rooms so that students can engage. There were a couple of students that never spoke but there wasn't even a check to see if people were "in the room" when we came back from a break. Please don't get me wrong, the presenter Olwen, was great. She had some lovely stories, which I found was the same with all the Bond Solon trainers, demonstrating their experience and skills. I just felt the material let her down. It was also nice learning that she had worked for defence which encouraged a couple of questions and opinions to obtain that point of view.