He concluded that the new arrangements improved the Council’s administration of the £84 million WBL programme, which represents over 15% of its annual budget.  However, he also reported problems relating to wrong or partial data entry which are now being addressed by the Council.

The LLWR replaced previous Council arrangements that were based on a number of different systems for capturing work-based learning data.  A lack of integration had previously made it particularly difficult for the Council to keep a complete overview of this type of learning across Wales.  The LLWR system allows for the direct entry of electronic input by users into a single database. 

While this system has many advantages, the Auditor General’s report does highlight some of the problems that need to be addressed by the Council and the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure both data entry and payments to training providers are accurate.

Advantages of the new arrangements include improved management of the Council’s commercial relationships with training providers, which in turn has helped secure £72 million of European funding for post-16 education and training in Wales.  However, the Auditor General is clear that the controls surrounding the LLWR need to be made more robust to reduce the levels of erroneous or incomplete data that training providers submit, and hence the risk of erroneous payments to them.  To achieve this, the Council must look to secure significant improvements in the providers’ own management systems.

Auditor General, Jeremy Colman said today:

“I am pleased that ELWa’s  new database has improved its administration of the work-based learning programme, particularly by enhancing ‘benchmarking’ across  post-16 training. But the Council must ensure that controls are strengthened to stop data errors leading to wrong payments being given to training providers.”

Notes to Editors:

• The Lifelong Learning Wales Record, or LLWR, is a comprehensive post-16 learning database that tracks the progress of individual learners as they train towards and acquire skills and qualifications.  It holds a wide range of data in respect of each learner, including: a unique learner identifier; personal details; learning previously undertaken; qualifications and awards attained; progress with current post-16 learning; destination upon completion; and current employment status.
    
• In addition to the management of the Council’s WBL programme, since the 2003/2004 academic year it has also used the LLWR to record the learning data of all students training at further education institutions, which in 2004/2005 received core revenue-funding of some £250 million from the Council.
   
• The functions of ELWa are to be absorbed into the Welsh Assembly Government on 1 April; the new LLWR database system will constitute a key component of the control and information framework to be operated by the enlarged Department of Lifelong Learning and Skills.
  
• The Wales Audit Office is independent of government and is responsible for the annual audit of some £19 billion of annual public expenditure.
  
• The Wales Audit Office was created on 1 April 2005 following the passing of the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2004, which expanded the functions of the Auditor General for Wales and enabled the transfer of staffs from the Audit Commission in Wales and National Audit Office in Wales to his employment.

For more information please contact Rachel Harries (Communications and Media Officer) on 029 2026 2675.

For a full copy of the report visit our website www.wao.gov.uk