£5m in CITB training grants goes 'missing'

More than £5m in CITB-ConstructionSkills grants is believed to have gone missing, as some contractors are said to have improperly pocketed the money without carrying through to completion the projected training for which the cash was intended.
The abuse of funds is claimed to relate mainly to the On Site Assessment and Training (OSAT) programme.
Industry sources told CJ the abuse centred on the provision of up-front or "profiling" grants, designed to encourage contractors to initiate training programmes as opposed to grants paid out against training achievement.
It is alleged that at least £5m has been paid out in grants for the registration of trainees that have not resulted in recognised training achievement. At the same time, there is a suggestion that the sum could be considerably more than that.
It is understood that the CITB has already taken action by slashing the profiling grant from £250 to £100.
One source insisted there was no question of fraud or mismanagement. The up-front grants had been introduced with the best of intentions as a sweetener to encourage more firms to take on recruits and initiate training to meet skill shortages. With hindsight, it might have been better to place much greater emphasis on grants for training achievement.
He added that it was a question of balance and that the policy had clearly resulted in a considerable measure of success. The output of trainees achieving NVQ level 2 through the OSAT route has nearly doubled in the past year, for example.
However, another training expert claimed the affair illustrated how the CITB had failed to learn the lessons of the past. The same sort of thing had happened with the temporary linkup skills accreditation card.
The missing grant money may help explain the apparent gap between a 10% increase in construction's new entrant recruitment figures and a decline in the numbers achieving NVQ 2.
CITB-ConstructionSkills finance director John Cowley said: "No money is missing. The OSAT grants were designed to offer an early incentive to kick-start the scheme. With the Major Contractors Group putting its force behind OSAT, the initial assessment part of the scheme has taken off.
"It will now move into its second phase, which will see those profiled being trained, and more achievements coming through. As a result, we are now consulting with industry to rebalance the OSAT grants scheme back to its original form so it will recognise qualification achievement."