The Department of Employment, Small Business and Training has stepped up its campaign to stamp out dodgy training providers.
Minister for Training and Skills Development, Shannon Fentiman said the number of private registered training organisations (RTOs) receiving Government subsidies had dropped from almost 720 four years ago to 460 now.
“Quality training for Queenslanders is a top priority for the Government and we won’t hesitate to take action against dodgy providers,” Ms Fentiman said.
“All complaints received by the Department are taken seriously and in the past 12 months alone we have ended funding agreements with 60 Queensland providers.”
She said the new Skills Assure Program had been launched, where for the first time in Queensland’s history the Department was proactively auditing every training provider to ensure they met its strict standards.
“Anyone who doesn’t measure up will lose their ability to access public funding,” Ms Fentiman said.
She said any complaints of fraud concerning RTOs were referred to police.
“In the past two years the Department has referred three matters of suspected fraud to police and investigations are still ongoing,” Ms Fentiman said.
“We also refer any complaints about registered training organisations to the Australian Skills Quality Authority as the Federal Government is responsible for the overall regulation of the training sector,” she said.
