2.12 Each year, the Department and Ascent agree the number and type of courses to be provided. Since 2012, the MFTS has gradually provided more courses as training packages have been introduced. In total, 245 student courses have been run, with 74 in 2018-19 compared with 38 in 2016-17. An additional 70 instructor courses have also been provided over this period.
2.13 Should either Ascent or the Department not fulfill their contractual responsibilities, courses may be delayed or cancelled. Reasons, which are examined later in this section, include the availability of aircraft, air traffic controllers or qualified instructors. Neither the Department nor Ascent could easily provide us with a list of delayed courses with underlying reasons. Our analysis showed that 40% (41) of the 103 courses expected to complete in 2018-19 had experienced delays, with a net slippage of 3,044 days, an average of 74 days per course.
2.14 Since 2012, 44 MFTS courses (12% of 369 planned courses) have been cancelled due to the Department or Ascent not fulfilling their responsibilities (Figure 10). Of the planned cases, a further ten were cancelled given changes to the Department's requirements. Course cancellations may have a financial impact for the party at fault. For 2018-19, the Department and Ascent negotiated a settlement covering all completion incentive fees. For this period, Ascent received £2.6 million against potential course completion incentive fees valued at £4.4 million.