HC Deb 25 February 2002 vol 380 cc730-1W
Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent representations she has received from the Association of Colleges concerning losses sustained in the further education sector following closure of the ILA scheme; and what response her Department has made. [35206]

John Healey

[holding answer 11 February 2002]: I received correspondence dated 25 January 2002 from David Gibson, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, about the closure of Individual Learning Accounts. I was able to send a full reply on 8 February 2002.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what advice she received from the Further Education Funding Council in May 2000 concerning the setting up of the individual learning accounts scheme; and if she will make a statement. [35207]

John Healey

[holding answer 11 February 2002]: Further Education Funding Council staff discussed a number of aspects of the design of the ILA programme at liaison meetings with the Department. These included issues about the quality assurance and audit arrangements for providers. In the final design of the ILA programme, there were light touch quality assurance arrangements so that the scheme could be as simple and non-bureaucratic as possible. Successor arrangements for ILAs will be based on stronger quality assurance arrangements for providers.

Mr. Andrew Turner

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many learning providers in the individual learning account scheme fall into each decile measured by the amount owed to them by her Department on 31 January; what was the range of each decile; and what was the total owed. [36484]

John Healey

The figures for amounts owed on 31 January 2002 include amounts withheld from providers already suspended prior to the closure of the programme on 23 November and amounts withheld pending validation checks on claims. The total amount withheld is £14,723,997.

Amounts owed to providers on 31 January 2002
Decile Range start (£) Range end (£) Number of registered providers
1 1 100,826 113
2 100,826 201,651 22
3 201,651 302,477 9
4 302,477 403,303 6
5 403,303 504,128 0
6 504,128 604,954 2
7 604,954 705,780 0
8 705,780 806,606 1
9 806,606 907,431 0
10 907,431 1,008,257 1
Total 154