The project, the first of its kind in Scotland, will be led by North Lanarkshire Council. The council was appointed to take forward the process for securing the project, the first stage of which was embarking on the procurement of an innovative eLearning and hosted learning platform to develop the toolkit.

The council’s enterprise and housing committee, approved the award of a contract to Aurion Ltd, which will work with them to develop and build the first Scottish Housing Options eLearning Training Toolkit.

Julie Hunter, business solutions manager, North Lanarkshire Council and lead officer of the west hub, said: “This is such an exciting development that will ensure housing’s workforce is well-trained and fully developed to meet many of housing’s challenges with confidence and deliver competent high quality services in a co-ordinated and consistent way.

“The procurement process has been complex. It’s the first time all 32 Scottish councils and a housing association have signed up to deliver a co-ordinated training toolkit to benefit staff and residents across the country.

“Five regional hubs were established to focus on homelessness prevention and they have helped progress discussions and actions to make our vision a reality. I’m really excited at the benefits the e-Learning and training toolkit will bring not just for providers of housing options and advice, but for people using our services.”

Councillor Allan Graham, convener of enterprise and housing, added: “North Lanarkshire is at the forefront of delivering and facilitating the delivery of innovative ways to develop and upskill our staff which in turn brings with it many benefits to households. By awarding this contract we’re delivering value for money as the costs are shared between all involved, providing first class services and are at the forefront of digital innovation.”

A group was established with representatives from across the hubs and relevant project team members to progress. Based on procurement documents the evaluation of responses took place and the five highest ranked compliant responses were then invited to tender.

The contract was awarded based on the more economically advantageous tender and will be managed throughout its duration.