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Education fraud (“Revealed: the giant fraud in student loans”, news, Mar 23) is nothing new. Those who worked in adult education at the turn of the century will remember the Individual Learning Accounts scheme introduced by the Labour government. The intention of this well-meaning scheme was to improve adult basic skills, particularly in information technology. Account holders received credits worth up to £200 to pay for courses, paid direct to the learning provider.
Not all of the almost 9,000 providers that signed up to the scheme were corrupt but it was relatively easy for the less scrupulous to arrange for “students” to register for an account and claim the money without providing any education. In some cases, people were accosted in the street and urged to sign up, sometimes in return for a small payment. Many of them had no intention of taking a course, while those who had could be fobbed off with a cheap book or worn-out computer. Launched in September 2000, the scheme was suspended little more than a year later. Governments still have lessons to learn.
Susan Middleton
Former programme manager, Kent Adult Education Service; Maidstone
Student loan fraud should not come as a shock to Bridget Phillipson (“This appalling misuse of public money must never happen again”, Mar 23). The Public Accounts Committee’s 2023-24 report revealed that in 2022-23, £2.2 million, or 53 per cent, of the £4.1 million in detected student loan fraud was linked to franchised providers.
Michael Robinson
Gosport, Hants
If universities can afford to pay commission to agencies that recruit students, the loan is far too big. Any university or franchise found guilty of fraud should have access to student loans removed. Institutions that fiddle the system need to be held accountable.
Bill Moores
Stoke-sub-Hamdon, Somerset
For a few breathless moments I thought that your report was going to be about the giant fraud that has been inflicted on those students who take out a loan to enable them to attend university. Are any of those students aware that interest is added to the loan from the day that the first payment is made? I worry about my grandchildren being burdened by these loans — and whether this is really the way in which we should be supporting our younger generations.
Jill Curtis
London SW15
Sir, The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, believes that students who receive loans but do not intend to study represent a hammer blow to the integrity of higher education in this country. This surely extends to the government’s policy of forcing hard-working parents to pay the 20 per cent VAT that has been added to independent school fees.
Ronel Lehmann
Chief executive, Finito Education Ltd
ADHD overdiagnosis
Rod Liddle is correct that overdiagnosis of ADHD is leading to excessive sickness benefit costs (Comment, Mar 23). Doctors are encouraged by the inflation in psychiatric diagnosis promoted by international classification manuals such as the ICD-11. This leads to “diagnostic exuberance”, which may benefit the research teams that advance such putative disorders and achieve recognition but bring no obvious gain to the sufferer. Rather, research shows that a person’s mental health is often improved by the advantages that regular employment brings, such as social interaction, the discipline of consistent timings and the cognitive and physical efforts that unemployment denies.
Noel Scott
Retired consultant psychiatrist, Belfast
Rod Liddle rightly voices his concerns about the overdiagnosis of ADHD but medical care professionals, or “legions of quacks” as the headline suggests, face a problem when asked by the parents of a young person for a diagnosis. If they decide that poor parenting, excess use of social media and late nights etc are the cause, then an unholy row will occur. A simple diagnosis of ADHD with a prescription means that everyone is happy because no one is to blame. Which option would you choose if you were a busy practitioner with an excessive workload?
Peter Howard-Williams
Exeter
Tough rule to swallow
I enjoyed Harry Wallop’s article “The meal deal you’re munching may not be such a tasty bargain” (Mar 23) but I fear that the days of this type of bargain buy may soon be over. The Senedd has voted into law the Food (Promotion and Presentation) (Wales) Regulations 2025, which mirror rules due to come into force in England in October. There will be restrictions on multi-buy offers and the promotion of food that is deemed high in fat, sugar and salt. Sticking to the new rules will make life interesting for supermarkets.
David Salter
Cardiff
Hearing aids advice
As someone who started to lose their hearing in their twenties and is now profoundly deaf (with a cochlear implant), I’ve learnt a few things along the way. My advice to Richard Coles regarding his struggles in noisy restaurants would be to leave his hearing aids in (“Praise be! I can hear again”, Culture, Mar 23). I identify with the urge to pull the damn things out but instead try focusing on the face of the person to whom you are speaking and be patient. The brain is clever, but you need to give it time to adjust.
Vera Brearey
Skipton, N Yorks
Written in the stars
I noted on the letters page (Mar 23) that, of the ten well-known people celebrating their birthday on that day, five were highly successful sportsmen and a sixth an acclaimed ballet dancer. Perhaps there is something in astrology after all.
Lesley Woodfield
York
Thieves among us
Charlotte Ivers’s article on fare-dodgers and shoplifters (Mar 23) struck a chord. My son, now 28, lived and worked in London for more than four years but his enjoyment of all that London had to offer a young person soured and he moved out. The daily spectacle of people travelling on buses and the Tube without paying and stealing from shops with impunity left him disenchanted and cynical. Civilised society depends, to an extent, on observing a social contract that involves recognition of the law and a basic level of courtesy to others. Ivers is right: the fraying of this social contract is having a highly corrosive effect on our happiness, safety and quality of life.
Alun Griffiths
Hook, Hants
Regarding Charlotte Ivers’s article “Fare-dodgers and shoplifters of Britain unite to make us all feel daft for playing by the rules”, I don’t feel daft because I have always understood that virtue is its own reward.
Mark Woolley
London N14
Soviet smokescreen
Andrew Brookes writes that the Soviets justified “taking Poland” at the Yalta conference in 1945 on the grounds that they had “freed it from Nazi occupation” (letter, Mar 23). However, the Soviet embassy official failed to mention that the USSR first invaded Poland from the east in 1939 a matter of days after the Nazi invasion from the west following the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. A campaign of mass persecution followed. Any suggestion that the Soviet Union’s actions were justified is abhorrent.
Mike Finnis
Hinchley Wood, Surrey
Phoney figures
Frankie Adkins reports on the “shortage of mobile phone numbers worldwide” (news review, Mar 23). However, an 11-digit number offers 100 billion permutations, which ought to be plenty for the Earth’s population of eight billion.
Anna Webster
Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancs
Grassroots music
Ed Sheeran rightly points out that music education is in a dire state (news, Mar 23) but the problem extends beyond the school curriculum. Grassroots venues, referred to as the “lifeblood of the music industry” at the Brit awards, are closing at an unsustainable rate. By removing crucial stepping stones for artists to develop their voice and build a fanbase we are discouraging emerging talent. Meanwhile, producers are prioritising viral music over investment in long-term, sustainable careers. Music is more than short-lived entertainment: it’s the ultimate form of human expression.
Harry Leckstein
Deputy managing director of the London College of Contemporary Music
Mr Bates’s hidden gem
One of my favourite performances by Toby Jones was as Joseph Olinska/Oldman in GF Newman’s The Corrupted (“What Mr Bates did next”, Culture, Mar 23), broadcast by Radio 4. Had this series been made for TV it would have been as big a success as Line of Duty.
Tony Cater
Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex
In the name of net zero
Alex Massie says to “keep the lights on, we can disturb a bird or two” (Mar 23). Much more is disturbed by the industrialisation of the Highlands in the name of net zero. Green energy is as far removed from environmentally friendly as a hipster beard is from a lumberjack.
Dr Lonneke Goddijn-Murphy
Thurso, Caithness
Quality quotation
Sue Pheasey tells her husband that “pursuit of the cheapest is not always a sound policy” when buying shoes (letter, Mar 23). I tell my husband: “I am too poor to buy cheap shoes”, despite being at a loss as to who coined that oft-used phrase. Jimmy Choo perhaps?
Bonnie White
Wells, Somerset
Canine contribution
I wonder how brave Rachel Reeves really is. The government is desperate for money, so why not reintroduce dog licences? We loved our dogs and were happy to pay. I suspect it would be as unpopular as withdrawing the heating allowance, but it would certainly help.
Jean Peace
Meinciau, Carmarthenshire
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