§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much money for individual learning accounts has been(a) claimed, (b) paid and (c) withheld or is in dispute in each month since August 2001; and if she will make a statement. [74291]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe amounts claimed, paid, and withheld at the end of each month from August 2001 to end September 2002 are set out in the following table. The amounts in the withheld column relate to those claims from registered Individual Learning Account (ILA) providers which are subject to validation checks and/or investigation. The claims withheld are those which are in dispute.
At the time of closure on 23 November a total of £19.4 million relating to learning episodes confirmed on the ILA Centre system was awaiting payment and therefore outstanding. Following validation checks payments for eligible learning relating to this amount were subsequently made in December and January.
ILA programme rules allowed bookings to be made 6 months in advance of the learning episode, so booked learning could be confirmed up to and including 22 May 2002. A paper based claims and payment system was introduced in January 2002 to allow providers to confirm and claim for delivery of this advanced booked learning. Claims, payments and amounts withheld are reflected in the table. In addition an estimated sum of £5.3 million remains unclaimed relating to advance booked learning by providers who cannot be invited to claim until all investigations are complete.
915W
Month Amount claimed (a) Amount paid Amount withheld/in dispute (c) August 2001 24,672,600 *26,216,174 1,580,245 September 2001 26,401,842 25,818,692 583,150 October 2001 39,173,099 *39,251,249 0 November 2001 51,334,141 31,789,658 113,100 December 2001 0 3,495,594 11,280,502 January 2002 0 *2,241,238 2,422,450 February 2002 559,290 *507,636 107,854 March 2002 3,299,073 *1,937,840 1,365,652
Month Amount claimed (a) Amount paid (b) Amount withheld/in dispute (c) April 2002 2,078.824 *1,555,490 540,489 May 2002 1,048,282 *928,924 199,303 June 2002 380.898 *382,371 68,672 July 2002 424,740 *376,857 170,918 August 2002 20,535 *20,564 1,702 September 2002 22,069 *23,671 0 Note:
(Payments marked* include amounts released from earlier claims which had been previously withheld.)
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many people have been(a) arrested, (b) charged, (c) released without charge, (d) cautioned, (e) prosecuted, (f) acquitted,
Quarter Ending (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) Dec 01 27 1 1 1 1 1 Mar 02 6 10 12 10 June 02 2 Sept 02 10 Note:
698 registered learning providers have been referred to the Department's Compliance Unit.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many cases of apparent abuse of individual learning accounts by providers have been referred to(a) the Individual Learning Accounts Compliance Unit (b) her Department's Special Investigations Unit and (c) the police; and if she will make a statement. [74290]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisSince 23 November 2001, 698 registered Individual Learning Account (ILA) providers have been referred to the ILA Compliance Unit. Of these, 150 have been passed onto to the Department's Special Investigation's Unit (SIU). The Compliance Unit has completed reviews on a further 228 providers. For 70 providers no evidence of irregular claims was found. The remaining 158 providers were sent letters by 1 October setting out the results of the review work and the basis for a settlement. In addition a further 320 providers are awaiting follow-up by the Compliance Unit.
Of the 150 registered learning providers referred to the SIU, 99 have been referred to the police.
SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many individual learning account providers currently have payments withheld; and if she will make a statement. [74292]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisFrom commencement of the Individual Learning Account (ILA) programme to the end of September, £16.8 million of claims from 267 registered learning providers has been withheld pending the results of investigations.
§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when an announcement will he made on a successor scheme to the individual learning account. [74293]
916W(g) convicted, (h) fined, (i) given a community service and (j) jailed in connection with abuse of individual learning accounts, in each quarter since October 2001; how many registered individual learning account providers have been referred to the individual learning accounts compliance unit; and if she will make a statement. [74289]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisIn connection with abuse of the Individual Learning Account (ILA) programme, which was closed on 23 November 2001, at the end of September 2002(a) 57 individuals have been arrested (12 individuals were arrested in September 2001), (b) 11 charged, (c) 12 released without charge, (d) 10 cautioned, (e) 1 prosecuted, (f) none acquitted, (g) 1 convicted, (h) none fined, (i) 1 given a community service order and (j) 1 jailed. The table below shows the position by quarter from October 2001.
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe Government is committed to introducing a successor scheme to Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs). The new scheme will build on the best and most successful features of ILAs and take into account the lessons we have learnt from the design and delivery of the programme. It is our intention to make a further announcement later in the autumn.