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Another silly move by the Gov' let alone allowing this person.........
The embattled firm owned by David Cameron's former 'back-to-work' tsar Emma Harrison has been handed two new state contracts worth up to £30million. The Skills Funding Agency quango last night confirmed that A4e has been appointed to run prison education programmes in London and the east of England, even though it is facing a string of fraud accusations. The decision came despite an announcement by the Department for Work and Pensions last week that it has launched an inquiry into ten welfare-to-work contracts operated by A4e.
The DWP warned it would cancel all of its contracts if it uncovered evidence of systemic fraud. The firm, owned by Mrs Harrison, the Prime Minister's former adviser on troubled families, is already facing investigation by the police. The Serious Fraud Office has also faced calls to look into the claims. Yesterday's decision by the SFA, which is part of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, provoked anger.....Read more HERE
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Welfare-to-work firm A4e knew of widespread potential fraud and systematic failures by management to control it, a leaked document suggests. BBC Newsnight has obtained the results of a confidential 2009 internal audit of work by A4e's top recruiters. The auditors found staff claiming for putting people into jobs which did not exist, jobs which did not qualify for payment and fabricating paperwork. A4e responded to the report by saying that it was a draft document only. It said that as a result of the audit it had made "significant enhancements" to all its systems. It added that further investigation had determined that only one person had done anything wrong and that it had paid money back. A4e said this was reported to the DWP's Risk Assurance Division and that the DWP had said its audit requirements had been fully met.
Call for suspension
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), which was passed a copy of the leaked document on Thursday, issued a statement saying: "The Work and Pensions Select Committee was made aware of this audit at the time and the department later received assurances from A4e that it had not uncovered any major issues." The DWP statement went on to say that "while the internal A4e document relates to programmes delivered by the previous government, our investigation into current contracts will ensure the issues this report raises have been fully addressed". Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the public accounts committee, said of the document:
"This appears to be devastating evidence of systemic fraud within A4e. Either A4e failed to act or to inform DWP, or they did inform DWP and the department failed to investigate properly. "Whichever, it is completely unacceptable. Once again, I am urging the department to suspend all its contracts with A4e immediately."
Fresh arrest
Earlier this month the DWP launched an investigation into A4e's work, saying that the department had been made aware of an allegation of attempted fraud in relation to a contract with the firm......Read more on here----> BBC News - Leaked document suggests at A4e