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TWENTY NINTH MEETING OF THE HIGHER AND FURTHER EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE AT 2.00 PM AT NORTEL NETWORKS NEWTOWNABBEY ON THURSDAY 19 OCTOBER 2000 1. Apologies PRESENT: Dr E Birnie (Chairman) IN ATTENDANCE: Mrs E Sung, Ms A Colville, Mr C Jones and Mrs C McGrattan.
William Hay, Monica McWilliams and Mary Nelis. Late arrival: Joe Byrne (2:35pm) and John Dallat (3:10pm) Members attending but leaving early: Mervyn Carrick (3:45pm) and Roger Hutchinson (4:00pm). Prior to the commencement of business, Joan Carson asked for her thanks to Committee staff for their work during the review of Student Finance to be recorded in the minutes. This was endorsed by the Chairman, who also thanked Nortel Networks for their invitation to host today’s meeting.
2.1 Draft Minutes of Meeting on 12 October 2000 Agreed as amended. Proposed: Mervyn Carrick. Seconded: Roy Beggs.
3.1 Private Finance Initiative Noted. Further information has been requested from the Department. The Minister has asked for a meeting next week, to brief the Committee on the budget proposals. He may give further information on PFI projects at this meeting.
3.2 New Deal Noted. A composite letter on the New Deal Programme, including any outstanding queries from the debate was tabled for review. Agreed. The reference to benefits compulsion in the section entitled "Improving Incentives for Participants" will be removed from the composite letter and sent separately, as agreed previously. Any further changes to be forwarded to the Clerk by 3:00pm on Friday 20 October.
3.3 Student Finance Noted. The printed version of the Committee Report was available for today, and the Chairman had given copies to the Minister, his adviser and senior officials. Copies would be issued to all Assembly Members by Friday 20 October. As agreed, the Chair and Deputy Chair had met with the Minister (twice) during the week. He was concerned that the Committee’s proposals had not been costed, and that the report had not been equality proofed. The implications of the Minister and the Committee having radically different views on Student Finance, in the forthcoming debate, were also discussed. Both the Chair and Deputy Chair had restated the Committee’s position. The Chairman noted that, as there may be constraints to the immediate implementation of some of the Committee’s recommendations, problems with acceptance of the model could be overcome by adopting a phased approach to the Committee’s proposals. The Minister had given no indication of the outcome of the Department’s review, nor when this would be made public. However he had reiterated his commitment to consult with the Committee, prior to any announcement. There was no provision for funding in the current budget for any new proposals emerging from the Department’s review. The Minister could not confirm whether the Department would have any new proposals in place for the intake in September 2001. The earliest date for the debate on Student Finance was Monday 6 November. For procedural reasons, the motion was invalid, and could not therefore be considered by the Business Committee until the report was available in printed form. A revised Motion for Debate was tabled, and would be sent to the Business Committee for examination on 24 October.
Agreed. The Committee had sought information on costings of options from the Department at various stages during their review, but the Department could not supply this in many cases. Although the Committee was not legally obliged to have their report equality proofed, it should be sent to the Equality Commission for review.
4.1 Enquiry Noted. A paper from the Chairman detailing his priorities for
Agreed. The scope of the enquiry would need to be tightly focused, bearing in mind that it was to be concluded by Spring 2001. Members will examine this paper and discuss at a future meeting.
Noted. Clerk’s memo of 16 October issued to all Members, detailed the current position on the six Statutory Rules (SRs) discussed at the meeting on 12 October. All six SRs had been included in the Order Paper for Monday 16 October and passed by the Assembly. The Clerk’s opinion remained unchanged from the meeting on 12 October ie that only two SRs needed to be passed this week. The Clerk of Business had been so notified. The Chairman had reviewed all SRs passed by the Assembly, and the Clerk’s briefing note, (including the outcome of examination by the Examiner of Statutory Rules), and concurred with the Clerk’s view that there were no technical problems, and that all SRs made provision for routine adjustments to detail. A briefing from officials on the Part-time Workers (Prevention of less Favourable Treatment) legislation had been scheduled for 9 November. It was hoped to arrange a briefing from Trade Union officials for that date, to obtain their perspective on this legislation. Additionally, a paper detailing how the legislation was treated at Westminster, and at the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, would be included in folders.
Agreed. The Committee had taken appropriate steps in attempting to scrutinise the Statutory Rules passed by the Assembly on 16 October. However, any legislation sent for scrutiny in future would be examined in sufficient time to allow for any objections to be raised.
6. Evidence Session from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) The Chairman welcomed the following representatives from the CBI, for the Committee’s first formal evidence session away from Parliament Buildings: Nigel Smyth (Director, CBI Northern Ireland) The CBI delegation spoke to a short paper on:
Witnesses then fielded Members’ questions. This was held in open session and was recorded by Hansard. The transcript will be formally published, and available as an appendix to these minutes on the Committee website, in due course.
Following the conclusion of questions at 3:45pm, the Chairman thanked the witnesses for their valuable input. The CBI confirmed that it would shortly finalise a written submission to the Committee’s enquiry.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Members received a short presentation from senior representatives on the products and key policies of Nortel, who had hosted the session. This was held in closed session at Nortel’s request.
8.1 Press Notice Noted. A Press Notice for today’s meeting, which had been agreed by the Chairman and issued in advance, was included for review.
8.2 Date of Next Meeting Noted. The Minister had asked to brief the Committee on the budget proposals. This had been provisionally scheduled for Thursday 26 October from 3:30:30pm at Parliament Buildings. Part of the meeting would be in closed session, at the Minister’s request. The Chairman of the Finance Committee had requested that all written submissions from Statutory Committees on the budget proposals should be forwarded to his Committee by 10 November.
Agreed. The Committee would meet on Thursday 26 October at 2:00pm, prior to the Minister’s briefing at 3:30pm. The paper setting out the Committee’s priorities on the Departmental bids will be finalised and forwarded to the Minister in advance of the meeting. The final paper will also be copied to Members, along with any other relevant information obtained from the Department, in advance of this meeting. Meeting concluded at 4:55 pm.
Esmond Birnie 26/10/2000
ESMOND BIRNIE 12 October 2000 / Menu / 26 October 2000 |