College of West Anglia faces ban after football students move

A government agency has banned a college from subcontracting courses after it failed to monitor 19 students who were moved by a third party.

GEMEG Sport was hired to provide a football course in Nottingham for King's Lynn's College of West Anglia.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) received complaints after the course was moved to Worksop Town FC without the college's knowledge.

The college said the GEMEG contract was then cut before an ESFA inquiry began.

GEMEG was given a £140,000 contract by the college, which was then cut in November 2015 to £100,000 due to the lower-than-expected recruitment of 19 students.

Monitoring arrangements included three quality audits a year, but the college did not visit the group until six months into the programme.

GEMEG had moved the course to Worksop's academy without the knowledge or permission of the College of West Anglia.

The ESFA said attendance on the course was poor and, despite warnings, did not improve.

After its investigation the ESFA has ruled the college must not make further subcontracting arrangements until a full review of controls, assurance systems, processes and after recommendations were put in place.

College principal David Pomfret said: "This report dates back nearly three years about the practices of one of our subcontractors.

"As a result of our own concerns, we ended our association with this provider in July 2016, long before any ESFA concerns came to light.

"We have further strengthened oversight of sub-contracting delivery and discontinued non-local study programme delivery."

The BBC was unable to reach GEMEG Sport for comment.