So many teacher training providers failed to produce accurate data about their trainees that the National Audit Office has said it cannot be sure funds are being used correctly and so has given a negative judgement of the National College for Teaching and Leadership accounts.

The NCTL, an executive agency of the Department for Education, provides £318 million in grants, mainly for training new teachers, and is responsible for recruiting and developing the school workforce.

After hearing concerns about the use of the grants, the NCTL sampled the student records held by training providers and found that 40 per cent of tested providers held inaccurate trainee data, potentially affecting the amount of grant funding they received.

A quarter of sampled training providers also could not provide adequate student data to back up their grant funding claims to within £1,000.

The NCTL gathers evidence on the way funding is spent through ‘grant returns’, which training providers must prepare and have certified by independent reporting accountants.

Read the full article on Schools Week.