AN investigation has taken place into a potential 'conflict of interest', after a Tavistock company received millions of pounds of public money for learning support when it was also undertaking disabled student assessments.

The National Audit Office (NAO) began to investigate the provision of disability assessments at Plymouth University after concerns were raised about the 'higher than expected' proportion of students receiving learning support.

Access South West — which undertakes the majority of assessments at Plymouth University — is also the same company as Claro Learning, based in Tavistock, which provides non-medical help to most Plymouth students.

In its report published last Friday, the NAO said the average total Disabled Students' Allowance payment per student for those assessed at Plymouth was £4,759 in 2012/13, compared with the national average of £2,227.

Some 9.3% of students received DSA in that year compared with the national average of 5.8%, the report also found.

The NAO said the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) had not taken sufficient action to fully mitigate the risk of a conflict of interest, as the Tavistock company was both assessing student need and carrying out the services for them.

It criticised the 'weak oversight' of assessment practices at Plymouth by BIS, which allowed Claro to receive higher than average commissions for many years.

Claro is a provider of specialist services for adults with disabilities such as learning support, mentoring, note taking and assistive technology training.

Margaret Hodge MP, chair of the public accounts committee, said it 'felt wrong' that Access South West, the company that assessed the support requirements of disabled students at Plymouth University, was the same company as Claro, which was providing support to disabled students using taxpayers' money.

'The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills did not spot soon enough the conflict of interest between Access South West and Claro, where the assessor of students' support requirements at Access South West was married to the director of Claro,' she said. 'Furthermore, the chief executive of Claro was the line manager of the regional manager of Access South West.

'The department missed a red flag by not noticing the average payment for students assessed by Access South West in Plymouth was more than double what disabled students received nationally on average.

'Time and time again my committee has raised concerns about the risks to public money posed by conflicts of interests.

'In this case BIS needs to get a much better grip on its oversight of Disabled Students' Allowance if it is to make sure that the public purse is not put at risk.'

The university played no role in the process by which funds were allocated and its arrangements were fully approved by the DSA and BIS, the report acknowledged.

BIS has instructed Access South West that any future assessments it makes must provide at least two quotes for support provision. It has confirmed with Plymouth University that the verbal agreement it has with Claro Learning does not prevent other suppliers from providing support to Plymouth University students.

In a statement, Claro Learning Ltd said the investigation was in response to an anonymous complaint about the company.

The company said the higher level of support to students with disabilities was the result of its policy of rapid engagement of students.

'We have no waiting list, we offer flexible delivery of services when and where students require it, we monitor support closely and work in partnership with higher education institutions to identify students with support needs early on,' said the company. 'This is why students take up a higher proportion of their support and the reason why we achieve such high student satisfaction figures.

'Claro Learning was investigated by BIS and the report concluded that "the review has not identified any conflicts of interest as contained within the allegations made to NAO that would impact on the way in which Claro Learning operates as a provider of assessments and as a provider of the support".

'This arrangement has been known and accepted by all relevant parties, eg the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, DSA-Quality Assurance Group and the Student Loans Company and we have operated within all official guidelines. 

'It has only ever been our intention to provide a high quality service with a focus on disabled student engagement with their support and their studies. Our data shows the level of support taken up by students is irrespective of whether they are assessed at Access South West or any other assessment centre.

'We will be undertaking an internal review in light of this report.'