That this House notes the case of Paul Hamilton of Barrow in Furness; notes that Paul Hamilton is yet another innocent victim of JHP training; believes that JHP fraudulently produced an assessment sheet falsifying information as to training that did not take place; notes that this fraudulent document was submitted to Cumbria TEC who, having made payments to JHP, were subsequently alerted by people in Barrow to irregularities; notes that Cumbria TEC once again took an early decision to carry out an investigation; notes that in an attempt to cover up the abuse of taxpayers' money a representative of JHP pursued Paul Hamilton's employers for signatures on time sheets; congratulates this employer for his honesty and integrity in refusing to become part of what in effect is a criminal offence; believes that pressure being exerted by senior JHP personnel on JHP's operating centres leads to questionable professional standards; believes that a national NVQ system that rewards training agents with lump sum completion payments on certification invites fraud unless adequately monitored; and believes that the NAO should undertake full and comprehensive inquiry into NVQ training as inadequacies in systems are proving immensely frustrating for the many thousands of honourable and decent people who work in training nationally and in JHP centres throughout the country.

That this House notes the case of Paul Hamilton of Barrow in Furness; notes that Paul Hamilton is yet another innocent victim of JHP training; believes that JHP fraudulently produced an assessment sheet falsifying information as to training that did not take place; notes that this fraudulent document was submitted...

That this House notes the appointment of Peter Hancock as Chief Executive of Maryport Developments Ltd in late 1993 and his subsequent resignation for so-called personal reasons in April 1994; notes that Peter Hancock was asked to leave by Maryport Developments Ltd's Board for failing to reveal in his curriculum vitae and original application for this important job in Maryport the details of his business background; notes his failure to reveal his connection with numerous companies, a number of which went into receivership or liquidation; notes that he further failed to reveal that he was Managing Director of Mainport Training Company and its associate Swelldale, a failed company and beneficiary of taxpayers' money through training contracts; notes that following an investigation by South Wales TEC into irregularities into the companies' operations, according to a letter from the Minister of State at the Welsh Office of 16th June 1993, the South Wales TEC relocated most of the 94 Mainport trainees to other training providers; notes the TEC contract with Mainport/Swelldale was terminated after five weeks' notice on 20th June, leading to 20 trainers and others losing their jobs; believes that Peter Hancock's failure to disclose this information gave him an unfair advantage over other applicants at the original interview with Maryport Developments; notes that despite repeated assertions to the contrary by Hancock no legal proceedings have been brought against South Wales TEC over termination of the training contract; and believes that the people of Maryport are entitled to know the truth concerning this particular appointment.

That this House notes the appointment of Peter Hancock as Chief Executive of Maryport Developments Ltd in late 1993 and his subsequent resignation for so-called personal reasons in April 1994; notes that Peter Hancock was asked to leave by Maryport Developments Ltd's Board for failing to reveal in his curriculum...

That this House notes that following a detailed investigation by the honourable Member for Workington, fraudulent diplomas and documents issued by JHP have been identified; believes that this documentation forms only part of a large volume of similar material held by the company nationally; believes that a detailed enquiry into JHP operations will reveal, the extensive forgery of trainee and trainer signatures, the theft of public money, the submission of falsified documentation and attendance records to TEC officials, unreasonable pressure having been exerted on employees, the deliberate misleading of the national examination boards, the alteration of trainee work records prior to assessment and verification, the pursuit of training targets for the purpose of maximising profit, the use of questionable activities with regard to verification procedures, the creation of phantom trainees for the purpose of cheating the taxpayer, the generation of fictional trainee timesheets, the holding of award certification prior to the completion of training, and the premature departure of trainees in disgust over the quality of training; believes that JHP local, regional and national personnel have been made aware of these practices in internal reports and meetings; believes that the indifference of the company to such allegations, apart from the discreet termination of a few employee contracts, only serves to indicate how widespread has been the fraud; and expreses thanks to Cumbria TEC for being helpful and open during the course of the honourable Member for Workington's enquiry and for the recent work carried out on quality standards in relation to JHP.

That this House notes that following a detailed investigation by the honourable Member for Workington, fraudulent diplomas and documents issued by JHP have been identified; believes that this documentation forms only part of a large volume of similar material held by the company nationally; believes that a detailed enquiry into...

That this House calls for a full inquiry by the National Audit Office under section 9 of the National Audit Act 1938, and by the Runcorn-based Internal Audit Unit at the Employment Department into the activities of JHP Training Limited, of Foleshill, Coventry, associate company of Pitman Personnel and Pitman Sumlock; notes that JHP has a national network of 65 training centres; notes that in July 1993 JHP fraudulently misled the Pitman's Examination Institute into issuing an NVQ business administration level 2 diploma certificate number PE13046 in the name of Mr Gareth Marshall, a constituent of the honourable Member for Workington; notes that Mr Marshall, who never received the award, and who was never made aware of its existence, strongly objected to his name being used in the committing of this criminal offence; believes that the Pitman's Examination Institute is an innocent victim of this fraud carried out by senior JHP personnel; advises Martin Cross, the Chief Executive of the RSA examination board, that his organisation has also been used in similar circumstances by JHP; believes that such actions totally undermine the NVQ awards system in the United Kingdom; calls upon the PEI and RSA, in defence of their high reputations to consider bringing civil proceedings for damages against JHP and for the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute those involved at the highest level under the criminal law; and notes that the papers in the possession of the honourable Member for Workington are available to the investigating bodies.

That this House calls for a full inquiry by the National Audit Office under section 9 of the National Audit Act 1938, and by the Runcorn-based Internal Audit Unit at the Employment Department into the activities of JHP Training Limited, of Foleshill, Coventry, associate company of Pitman Personnel and Pitman...

That this House notes the contradictions between the Government's claims to high standards of decency in the public services and how those employed by the privatised Astra Training Network were treated when Astra went into receivership in 1993; believes that the Government has demonstrated double standards and double dealing in claiming, on the one hand, that the clean break nature of Astra's privatisation in 1990 absolved them of liability for the employees and, on the other hand, making a decision, just prior to the 1992 general election, to make a payment of ??1.2 million to keep Astra afloat; is appalled at the admission in a letter of 8th January from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Employment to the honourable Member for North East Derbyshire that while 'the purchasers of skillcentres were bound by the terms of the sale to make pension provision' (including redundancy payments) 'broadly comparable to that applicable to the civil servants transferred to them, 'there is, however, no legal barrier to an employer seeking to make changes to staff's terms and conditions at any time'; recognises that Astra's closure involved considerable suffering for employees who were transferred, often without effective choice, from the Civil Service and whose previous terms of employment had been seriously undermined; believes that redundancy payments were substantially inferior to those available if Astra employees had still been entitled to Civil Service conditions; and urges the Government to urgently examine the question of ex-gratia compensation to redundant Astra employees.

That this House notes the contradictions between the Government's claims to high standards of decency in the public services and how those employed by the privatised Astra Training Network were treated when Astra went into receivership in 1993; believes that the Government has demonstrated double standards and double dealing in...

That this House notes the remarks of the Under Secretary of State for the Department of Employment recorded in the Official Report of 19th January, column 936, that 'where there is ever any evidence to suggest public money may have been misused, or that the value for public money may not have been met, that is something worthy of investigation, which would come up through the ordinary audit procedures'; notes that the collapse of the Astra Training network shows that public money was misused because Astra were abusing the system of output related funding and claiming public money for successful 'outcomes' which did not exist; notes that the public did not get value for money because millions of taxpayers' money was squandered in the privatisation and subsequent collapse of Astra and this much needed resource has now gone at a time of high unemployment and when skills are desperately needed to form the basis of future economic prosperity and that ordinary audit procedures did not reveal Astra's abuse of the funding system and that there are no financial controls to ensure this abuse cannot happen again; further notes that successive Secretaries of State have helped create this appalling fiasco and then washed their hands of any responsibility; and calls on the Government to honour the promises of their own Minister and at the very least hold an independent inquiry and recover public money where it has been misappropriated.

That this House notes the remarks of the Under Secretary of State for the Department of Employment recorded in the Official Report of 19th January, column 936, that 'where there is ever any evidence to suggest public money may have been misused, or that the value for public money may...

That this House expresses its grave concern at the news of the collapse of Astra Training Services, the privatised skill centres network; calls upon the Government to take immediate action to safeguard the vital training needs of the country by bringing the skills centres back into public ownership with a commitment to adequate funding; and further calls upon the Government to initiate a public inquiry into the financial management of the company which was given millions of pounds of public money when privatised only three years ago.

That this House expresses its grave concern at the news of the collapse of Astra Training Services, the privatised skill centres network; calls upon the Government to take immediate action to safeguard the vital training needs of the country by bringing the skills centres back into public ownership with a...

That this House expresses deep concern that the following potential bidders were not informed that ??14 million was to be donated by the Government to the 'purchases' of skillcentres; Amarc (Training, Education and Safety), Bowford Engineering Services, Business Support Unit, C.I.T.E. (Associates), Cobalt (UK), Compass Group plc, Ditec, Durham Training and Enterprise, Eltec, Essex Training, Exeter & District Chamber of Commerce and Trade, Face, Fairclough Civil Engineering, Fullemploy Group, Messers J. Gorter and D. Wilson, Grand Met Community Services Trust (Brighton), Heating and Ventilation Contractors Association, Henton and Peycke, JHP Training, Mr P. Kalinauckas, Kells Training Co., Mr C. F. Lakin, Lloyds British Training Services, Management Organisation Services (Training), Merseyside Training Council, Metrotec (Wigan), M.I. Technologies, Mobil Oil Company, Monadonck International, Nord-Anglia International (Holding), Notts and Derby Engineering Training Association, Mrs R. Oswin, The Oxford House Group, The Phoenix Initiative, Plymouth Training Centre, Preston Borough Council, QCL Systems, Reading and Central Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, Royal County of Berkshire, Sentra Training Service, Sheerness Steel Company plc, Skills Development Agency, The Solent Builders YTS Training Scheme Group, Southampton City Council, South London Training Resource Centre, STAMBO Team, Sussex Training Group, Teeside Positive People, The Training Business, Tower Radio, D. Turner and G. James, Tyne & Wear Chamber of Commerce, UK Commercial Driving School, City of Wakefield MDC, Warrington Industrial Training Trust, Warwicker Associates, Whiteley's College, William Dawson (Holdings) plc, Wimpey Group Services, Wolters Kuwer UK plc. and Wrexham Maelor Borough Council; and is alarmed that ??11 million and 46 Skillcentres were given to three civil servants in an insider deal.

That this House expresses deep concern that the following potential bidders were not informed that ??14 million was to be donated by the Government to the 'purchases' of skillcentres; Amarc (Training, Education and Safety), Bowford Engineering Services, Business Support Unit, C.I.T.E. (Associates), Cobalt (UK), Compass Group plc, Ditec, Durham Training...