• The host system that carries the e-learning courses must be robust and constantly available online
• The learning management system (LMS) must be securely hosted on a minimum dedicated virtual private server hosted in a secure tier III data centre, with redundant power and Internet feeds
• All server hardware must be protected by a hardware firewall appliance. Daily database backups and website data backups must be carried out and backups transmitted and stored offsite
• The LMS website must be secure with SSL certification using minimum 256bit encryption (e-commerce standard), ensuring all data entered is securely transmitted.

• Each learner must have a unique user name and password - issued by the LMS when prompted by the system administrator.
• Passwords must be generated randomly by the LMS within secure system.
• One user name and password per user (learner) account.
• Learners must login with unique login details and confirm their identity and accept terms and conditions of use (including warning on fraudulent use).
• Courses cannot be accessed without acceptance of terms and verification of identity.
• Once logged onto the LMS learners must only see course(s) assigned to them and may access those courses.
• Users must be required to write their National Insurance/Social Security number on and sign the certificates produced after successful completion of a course to re-confirm their identity and that they have taken the course.
• Legal warnings must be printed on the certificates.

Course providers contact details must be provided for certificate authentication.eLearning providers must be registered with the relevant Data Protection Agency.Course functions Course content must include all the information as required by relevant Regulations and ACoP’s and must be vetted by a suitably competent independent person or body to ensure compliance.

Instructions on how to use and navigate course(s) must be provided in the introduction pages of the course with easy to follow graphics and optional audio (voice-over).All instructions and course content must narrated and audio must be an option Narration must be able to be repeated as many times as the learner requires.

Advancement through the course must follow the prescribed sequence as in the content list, i.e. section 01, then section 02 and so on. The learner must complete each section before moving to the next and must not be able not jump ahead. They must be able to review completed sections.

• There must be a knowledge check consisting of at least 2 or 3 questions at the end of each section that must be completed to allow progress.
• If the learner fails to answer all the knowledge check questions correctly after the third attempt, the correct answer must provided so that the leaner can understand the answer and be advised to review the section, before moving on to the next section.

The training provider must provide support to learners via live online services, email and telephone. One or other means support must be available 24 hours / 7 days a week.

Learners must have access to suitably competent trainers relative to the courses provided.

The learner must be able to undertake courses in one session or stop and start the course as required. They must be able to log out and log in as many times as they need to. Their progress up to the time of logging off must be saved by the LMS and they can resume the course where they left off or start again.

There must be an end of course assessment consisting of a minimum of 20 questions. There must be a default 25 minute time to answer questions and all questions must be attempted in order for the assessment to be submitted. In order to course obtain certification the learner must firstly complete the course and successfully complete the end of course assessment.

• The learner must not be able to take the end of course assessment without firstly completing the course in full.
• There must be a default 80% pass mark to achieve certification.
• Learners must be able to take re-tests if an assessment is failed.
• Feedback on the general subject area of any failed questions must be notified to the learner after completion of each assessment (even if 80% or more is achieved) and access to the course must be made available for re-training after failure. They must not be provided with the actual answer but must be directed to the relevant section of the course that contains the information relating to the failed question(s).
• Learners must be blocked from accessing the course during any assessment.
• Learners must not be able to bypass the course take the assessment unless they are taking a re-test.
• All questions must be randomly generated by the LMS and each assessment attempt must contain a different selection of questions.
• Each assessment must contain a minimum of 10 questions on mandatory subjects selected from a bank of mandatory subjects. All remaining questions must be selected from a bank of general questions.
• The course must be accessible to the learner after they have successfully completed the end of course assessment.

• Within the course there must be a virtual classroom with instant messaging, frequently asked questions and live link to online tutors (during the hours of 9am - 5pm Weekdays) and via email out of hours.
• The virtual classroom must only be available to the learner when taking the course and must be disabled during assessment attempts.
• The virtual classroom must allow learners to communicate with each other and tutors while taking a course, similar to the real life classroom.
• The tutor must be able to block/restrict learners if they mis-use the facility in any way and be able to remove the learner from the course (as in face to face classrooms).

• Upon successful completion of a course the LMS must produce a certificate in the name of the registered learner using the details provided at initial registration.
• The certificate must be produced in a secure format and must be saved in the learners training account within the LMS. This must be accessible at anytime for download or printing off.
• Each certificate produced or reprinted must require the learner to insert their National Insurance/Social Security number and sign to confirm their identity and acceptance of the terms and conditions.
• There must contain clear warnings on the certificate about fraudulent abuse by both learner and anyone else.
• The certificate must have a unique certificate number automatically printed on it.