PEOPLE who hoped to start courses under a Government backed training scheme have been shocked by its sudden collapse.

The Department for Education and Skills has called on police to investigate fresh allegations of fraud against training companies that are alleged to have dishonestly taken advantage of Individual Learning Accounts.

The ILA scheme is now closed to new students.

The accounts have provided individual students with subsidies of up to £200 for approved private training courses in such areas as computer skills, GCSEs and City and Guilds qualifications provided they agreed to pay at least 20 per cent of the tuition costs them-selves.

But following complaints from students it emerged that hundreds of training companies had been creaming off the subsidies without delivering adequate tuition.

In some cases the training being provided amounted to little more than a cheaply-produced computer disc which was being supplied to students for fees of up to £150.

In October it was revealed 300 firms were under investigation.

But now backwash from the frauds has hit reputable edu-cational establishments.

This week individuals who believed they would be able to take approved courses at Swindon College and New College provided their applications were registered by December 7 were shocked to learn the scheme had closed.

One Swindon College staff member, who did not want to be named, said: "We knew from a Government announcement two or three weeks ago that because of the frauds the scheme was being stopped from December 7.

"But there was no warning at all that it was going to end before that date."

The situation has been confused because the ILA scheme, which had been administered success-fully by Wiltshire Tec, was later handed over to a new ILA centre in Darlington

People were given a credit card that they handed to the training provider concerned, which could then take money out of the ILA account.

But now students who exper-ienced delays in the issue of their cards are being told that they can no longer use them.

This applies even to students intending to go to College outreach centres.

Graham Taylor, principal of New College, said: "It seems some people have been getting students to sign on for courses and then disappearing with the money.

"We have used the ILA scheme with a number of local companies, but now we have had to put a stop to January starts.

"We were told ILAs would run to December 7 but have learned from an ILA website that they were shut down last Friday."

He believes poor quality pro-viders were not efficiently validated and should have been weeded out.

Education Secretary Estelle Morris has pledged a replacement scheme would be introduced.

A DfES spokeswoman said the cut off date had been brought forward because of the need to investigate the new complaints.

"We have 530 learners affected by this," said College principal Mike Hopkins.

"That means about a loss of about £37,000 to the College if we don't get payment.

"But my first concern is for the students who have now had the rug pulled from under them.

"This programme was set up to encourage learners who might otherwise not have been able to afford to benefit from post-16 education, and it's a tragedy that it has now had to close."

Any fraud involving public money had to be thoroughly investigated, he added.

"But perhaps this money should have been given to the colleges, which are closest to the learners and would have got on with teaching them."