| 14 January 2011 | |
Over 200 Security Industry Authority (SIA) licences have been suspended following alleged malpractice at London-based training centre Tristar.
Awarding body Edexcel has withdrawn the Level 2 BTEC Award in Door Supervision certificates issued by Tristar, and removed the operation from its list of accredited training centres.
The licence holders all held door supervision qualifications from Leyton-based centre Tristar but, because their qualifications have now been withdrawn, 211 licence holders no longer meet the SIA’s licensing criteria which clearly states that a specified qualification must be passed.
Therefore, the Regulator has suspended these licences.
These suspensions will be reviewed in 90 days’ time and, if the individuals do not have a valid qualification by this juncture, their licences will be revoked.
Any person found to have been complicit in malpractice will have their licence revoked.
Hazel Russell, the SIA’s director of strategy and corporate services, commented:
“We take allegations of training malpractice very seriously indeed and, in this case, have taken prompt action to suspend licences after receiving information from Edexcel.”
Russell went on to state: “Training is an essential part of the licensing process, ensuring that all those working in the security industry are properly equipped to carry out their role. Reassuringly, we have relatively few reports of misconduct, and we work closely with the awarding bodies to ascertain that licence-linked qualifications meet the necessary standards.”
A spokesperson for Edexcel added: “Edexcel takes any abuse of our qualifications very seriously. We received allegations of malpractice within Tristar and carried out a thorough investigation, including the forensic analysis of test papers. We found substantiated evidence of malpractice, and consequently withdrew over 200 Level 2 BTEC Awards in Door Supervision and removed the centre’s accreditation.”
The spokesperson concluded: “BTECs are rigorous qualifications and, wherever necessary, we will always take action to protect their value.”
