HC Deb 30 October 2001 vol 373 cc618-21W
Mr. Willis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many complaints have been received about the Individual Learning Accounts scheme. [9687]

John Healey

Between 4 September 2000 and 30 September 2001, the Individual Learning Accounts Centre received 6,053 complaints. This represents 0.25 per cent. of over 2.3 million learners.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what estimate she has of the cost of the abuse of the operation of the Individual Learning Account scheme; and if she will make a statement. [11196]

John Healey

It is not possible at this stage to determine costs in relation to the abuse of the Individual Learning Account programme. It will only become clear once we have concluded the investigations we are currently undertaking into providers about whom we have received complaints.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many complaints had been received in relation to the operation of Individual Learning Accounts(a) before 31 July and (b) at the latest available date; and when the first complaint was received. [11298]

John Healey

The national framework for ILAs first became operational on 4 September, and in that month the Individual Learning Account (ILA) Centre received five complaints out of a total of over 100,000 learners.

At 31 July 2001, 3,096 complaints had been received, representing 0.19 per cent. of more than 1.5 million learners.

At 30 September 2001, 6,053 complaints had been received, representing 0.25 per cent. of over 2.3 million learners.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what allegations of criminal conduct have been received by her Department in relation to the operation of individual learning accounts. [11459]

John Healey

The Department has received a number of complaints from individuals alleging that providers have claimed their ILA incentives without their knowledge. A number of these allegations are currently under investigation by both the Department and the police. Until these investigations have been completed the Department will be unable to confirm if any criminal activity has taken place.

Mr. Willis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many complaints about the Individual Learning Accounts scheme have been upheld when investigated by an external body. [9688]

John Healey

To date, the police have undertaken suspected fraud investigations into three providers resulting in a total of 29 arrests. They are also investigating one other provider's ILA activities following their arrest in connection with a suspected fraud on an unrelated matter. In addition, the Department's Special Investigations Unit (SIU) continues to investigate a further 29 providers. Police are in the early stages of investigating suspected fraud by two of these and have expressed an initial interest in another nine providers. SIU is undertaking investigations work on these nine cases prior to a possible formal police investigation.

As a result of these and other investigations by officials, three learning providers have so far been permanently removed from the list of registered providers and another 37 providers have been removed pending the outcome of investigations into the complaints received.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what controls her Department put in place at the commencement of operation of the Individual Learning Account scheme. how the scheme was monitored while it was in operation; and if she will make a statement. [11194]

John Healey

ILAs were an innovative initiative that put learning power in the hands of the individual. The system was designed to make the learning process as simple and straightforward as possible, cutting down on bureaucracy, in order that the individual could access learning opportunities in an easy, user-friendly way.

We have undertaken audits and inspections in cases where we received complaints that learning providers were misusing ILAs or provided poor value for money. We introduced a revised learner provider agreement that made it harder for providers to act against the ethos of the programme. We also made changes to the applications process, for the same purpose. It is our careful monitoring of the scheme that has enabled us to take prompt action to safeguard public funds.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans she has to order an inquiry into alleged abuse of the operation of the individual learning accounts scheme; and if she will make a statement. [11195]

John Healey

Our policy is that all complaints that we receive alleging misuse of ILAs should be investigated. In cases where we believe criminal activity is involved, they will be referred to the police for investigation.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what evidence she has that the Individual Learning Account scheme was being abused by offering low value, poor quality learning; and if she will make a statement. [11295]

John Healey

Our investigations into the practices of some learning providers have revealed low-quality learning provision and poor value for money as well as a number of marketing practices which are unacceptable. Individual Learning Account holders have reported many of these instances to us and to Trading Standards Officers, as have other learning providers who did not want to see an innovative, progressive and successful initiative being exploited.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what steps she is taking to discover the extent of the abuse of the operation of the Individual Learning Account scheme; and if she will make a statement. [11296]

John Healey

We are working closely with individuals, learning providers, local Trading standards Officers, the Individual Learning Account (ILA) Centre and the police to identify and fully investigate all potential abuses of the ILA scheme. We are also writing to all 2.5 million individual learning account holders to inform them of the withdrawal of the scheme, and any additional allegations of abuse we receive as a result will be investigated.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills on what date she was first informed of complaints concerning the operation of the individual learning account; and what action she took at that time. [11297]

John Healey

In July of this year, the Department started to receive increasing numbers of complaints from individuals and local Trading Standards Officers. In response the Department took action to tighten up the ILA system to address these problems. We re-registered all learning providers, withdrew blank application forms, suspended all new provider registrations, introduced a revised learning provider agreement that made it harder for providers to act against the ethos of the programme, and made changes to the applications process, for the same purpose. Everyone who opened an ILA received a copy of 'Choosing Your Learning', explaining the full range of options in using their ILA. However, it became clear that these changes were not sufficient by themselves to prevent the mis-selling of ILAs. At that point we decided we had no option other than to withdraw the programme.

Alistair Burt

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if arrests have been made in relation to the operation of individual learning accounts; and if she will make a statement. [11460]

John Healey

There have been 30 arrests made by the police to date involving four registered individual Learning Account providers.