The DSPA is based on 2 sites: Worthy Down near Winchester and Southwick Park near Portsmouth. Army training is based at Worthy Down where the three training companies of the Staff and Personnel Support Training School (SPSTS) provide Phase 2 and 3 officer and soldier professional training for the SPS Branch and for Clerks employed in the Brigade of Gurkhas and the Royal Gibraltar Regiment. All RAF Personnel (Support) training takes place at Southwick Park, where the RAF School of Administration (RAFSA) is a lodger unit. RAFSA delivers all officer and airman Phase 2 and 3 personnel administration, accounts, and infrastructure support and management training. In addition to Phase 2 and 3 training, a full range of promotion and career upgrading courses is also provided on both schools; all DSPA courses include Joint Personnel Administration training appropriate to the students’ future role.
In total, the DSPA trains some 5,500 students a year on over 60 different types of course (over 30 in SPSTS, 20 in RAFSA and 11 on ASE). At any one time, this represents a standing student population of up to 300. Across the three Schools and DSPA HQ, this output is delivered with some 140 permanent staff.
SPSTS and RAFSA each have embedded training support assets to design, develop and validate the range of courses. In addition to traditional classroom-based instruction, much use is made of learning in the realistic working environment, allowing students to familiarise themselves with the nature of their future employment on front-line units. To prepare students for operational deployment, a range of field exercises are included in many courses which also ensures that Army students are current in Basic Close Combat Skills. Most training is delivered in the UK, with distributed training provided in Germany, NI and Cyprus together with support to training and exercises worldwide as required.