Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education has raised any concerns about (1) Greenwich School of Management, and (2) Grafton College of Management Services, in the last year.

The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) investigates concerns about standards, quality and the information that providers make available in relation to their higher education provision. Where QAA identifies evidence of systemic concerns these issues may be investigated through a focused concerns investigation, a Higher Education Review (Alternative Provider) (HER (AP)) or a provider’s annual quality monitoring visit

QAA does not disclose the names of providers that are currently the subject of QAA concerns activity, or the nature or those concerns. But where these lead to a concerns investigation, the outcomes from this activity will be published on the QAA website once QAA has concluded its investigations.

QAA did not report on any new concerns about Grafton College of Management Sciences or Greenwich School of Management within the last year. However, QAA’s HER (AP) report on Grafton College, which was published in June 2016, contains a commentary on the status of an earlier completed concern investigation into Grafton College of Management Sciences (copy attached). A QAA outcomes report from the Greenwich School of Management’s recent HER (AP) is also due to be published in December 2017.

The department takes allegations of fraud and malpractice extremely seriously and we are grateful to BBC Panorama for bringing the allegations against both of these providers to our attention. Working with stakeholders, we will take robust action where abuses of the system are evident.