IT delays hampered gov't training scheme
Kable
Published: 21 Jul 2009 09:01 BST
Late delivery of IT has caused delays and financial problems for a government training scheme, says the National Audit Office.
Contract management for the Train to Gain scheme was damaged because IT to support a new demand-led funding model was not in place, according to a report published by the NAO on 21 July, 2009.
As a result, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which was responsible for letting contracts to training providers, could not do so until the start of the 2008-09 academic year and trainer providers had to operate under "letters of intent".
The IT problems also meant that the LSC had to pay providers according to their estimated activity levels, rather than its usual practice of payments based on monthly returns of actual activity.
According to the NAO, the result was that providers had no incentive to submit their returns promptly, and the LSC did not have reliable management information on activity until December 2008. The report says this created a "blind-spot at a time when substantial changes were taking effect and were causing learner numbers to rise rapidly".
The LSC had to pay providers without knowing whether they were delivering the agreed levels of training, which led to it having to recover payments if learner numbers for an individual provider were less than expected, or if the provider ceased to trade.
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Train to Gain was introduced in April 2006 with the aim of helping employers to improve the skills of their staff and improve business performance. By March 2009 it had cost £1.47bn, with a budget of £925m for the current financial year.
But the NAO said the scheme has not provided good value for money. NAO head Amyas Morse said: "Inconsistent management contributed to a slow start to the programme, followed by rapid growth and now the risk of demand exceeding budgets.
"We also need to see evidence that money is directed more to areas of greatest need, with training providers who do the best job for their learners and on bringing the whole range of business benefits to employers."
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