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TWENTY SEVENTH MEETING OF THE HIGHER AND FURTHER EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE AT 2.00 PM IN ROOM 152, PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS ON THURSDAY 5 OCTOBER 2000 1. Apologies PRESENT: Dr E Birnie (Chairman) IN ATTENDANCE: Mrs E Sung, Ms A Colville, Mr C Jones, Mrs C McGrattan, and Professor Osborne (Adviser).
None. Members attending but leaving early: Mervyn Carrick (4:10pm); Roger Hutchinson (4:20pm); John Dallat (4:50pm); William Hay (5:05pm).
2. Draft Minutes of Meeting on 28 September 2000 Agreed. Proposed: William Hay. Seconded: Joe Byrne.
3.1 Forward Work Programme Noted. The next two meetings, on Thursday 12th and 19th October will be held in open session in East Antrim Institute (from 10:00am) and Nortel (from 2:00 – 4:00pm) respectively.
Agreed. Decision on whether a European visit would be undertaken as part of the enquiry into education and training for industry would be deferred. (If a visit were to occur, it would probably be in early 2001).
3.2 Walsh Visa
Noted. The Programme is currently under review and the Minister has assured the Committee that they will be informed of the outcome. The Committee has written for further clarification of the changes to the USA administration of the Programme, but has not yet received a reply.
Agreed. Chairman to write urgently to the Minister, expressing the Committee’s concerns regarding the Walsh Visa Programme and their frustration at the lack of information available for their specific concerns. He would also determine the extent to which the Programme was being mishandled in the USA and whether Logicom had sub-contracted the administration of the Programme.
4.1 Legislation Noted. The briefing from the Assembly’s Legal Adviser scheduled for today had been postponed due to the extended deliberations on Student Finance. Several items of subordinate legislation needed to be processed before 17 October, and would be included at the start of business at East Antrim Institute.
4.2 Correspondence
Noted and agreed. Letters from the Chairman to the Finance and Education Committees, on Student Finance and learning skills.
Agreed. Clerk to request a briefing note from the Department on the North/South dimension of the EQUAL programme. Chair raised a concern and will liase with Clerk to draft letter, seeking clarification from the Minister on whether participants on the New Deal Programme should receive the minimum wage. This may be an issue, depending on whether the Programme is categorised as employment or a training scheme.
5. Student Finance (Open Session) Noted. Chairman commended the work of Committee staff, Professor Osborne and Nuala Bryce- Gormley in providing additional material for consideration at today’s meeting and restated his wish for the Committee to agree a unanimous report.
Mrs McWilliams expressed concern that she had been misrepresented in the local media. She asked for the minutes to record that the Committee was clear that the threshold for student contributions following graduation must be higher than the £10,000 imposed by the Scottish Executive, and had held this position from the onset of discussions. The Chairman urged Members to exercise restraint in interviews with the media, especially when attributing comments to other Members.
Agreed. Further research was essential on the legal and administrative feasibility of setting the threshold at £25,000, as opposed to £10,000. However, this was a complex issue and a definitive answer was unlikely within the stipulated timescales. It was by no means clear that the problems in Scotland had been "real" ones, as opposed to the outcome of political expediency. Members unanimously supported recommendations relating to the creation of a Northern Ireland Student Endowment Fund (Charitable Trust), subject to the earnings threshold for graduate endowment being set at £25,000.
The current draft of the Student Finance report was then considered by Members and amendments proposed. Discussion focussed on the following areas:
The Chairman noted that there was still disagreement over the groups to be exempted from contributing to the Charitable Trust, once the threshold of £25,000 was attained.
Agreed. The final draft of the report, amended to reflect discussion at today’s meeting, would be tabled at the meeting on 12 October 2000, for final consideration.
6.1 Press Notice Press Notice on the outcome of today’s meeting was agreed, as amended, for issue.
6.2 Date of Next Meeting Thursday 12 October at 10:00 am at East Antrim Institute. Part of the meeting would include a further examination of the draft paper on priority bids. which would need to be in closed session as the information supplied was still confidential.
Meeting concluded at 6:10 pm. Esmond Birnie
ESMOND BIRNIE 3 October 2000 / Menu / 12 October 2000 |