WIREDGOV

“We take any allegation against an organisation involved in the delivery of skills extremely seriously. We are currently investigating the credibility of these claims and we are not able to comment on specific details during a live investigation.

“The Agency’s priority is to protect the interests of learners, employers and the tax payer and we work to ensure existing learners and apprentices are supported, while Government funding is allocated appropriately. The Skills Funding Agency issued a notice of serious breach to Elmfield Training on 15 July 2013 which included conditions to limit their publicly funded business activities to those learners that are already on a skills programme. Elmfield Training agreed not to engage any new learners in publicly funded skills programmes until the Agency is satisfied with the progress being made against their post inspection action plan. We will take into account the views of Ofsted when considering our position.

“Should any whistleblower have information of irregularity in relation to public funds provided by the Agency, we would encourage them to contact us directly and their evidence will then be considered in line with our investigations procedure.”