Telford, England Jan 13 2017

The head of an exam board is warning that undetected qualifications fraud in the security industry is becoming a "risk to public safety."

 

Raymond Clarke, chief executive of Industry Qualifications, is calling for tougher scrutiny to prevent fraud in workplace qualifications.

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And when it applies to security staff, he says, such fraud is a "significant threat to public safety and wellbeing."

 

Exam watchdog Ofqual said it had "a number of ongoing investigations."

 

Mr Clarke says regulation is more focused on trying to prevent academic malpractice, but it is not adequately equipped to take on systematic, deliberate fraud.

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He says he is speaking out because of "frustration" at the lack of effective monitoring - and because qualifications fraud is "more widespread than we might like to believe."

 

He is calling for an expert panel to be set up to try to establish the extent of qualifications fraud, particularly in areas of security and public risk.

 

This could be in jobs such as security guards or door supervisors.

 

Such fraud could be falsifying course work or test answers, by individuals or colleges or training centres, to allow people to dishonestly gain qualifications needed for work.

 

And it could mean unsuitable or untrained staff being put into positions where safety would be compromised.

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