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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE EIGHTEENTH MEETING OF THE HIGHER
AND FURTHER EDUCATION, TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE 1. Apologies PRESENT: Dr E Birnie (Chairman) IN ATTENDANCE: Mrs E Sung, Ms A Colville, Mr C Jones and 1. Apologies Joe Byrne.
Closed Session 2. Draft Minutes of Meeting on Tuesday 4/7/00
Agreed. 3. Matters Arising
(a) Draft Forward Work Programme
Noted. Amended version, to include:
Noted and agreed. Advisers for the enquiry to attend the meeting on 14 September and discuss proposed itinerary for the European study visit. Once this was agreed, pre-visit literature would be obtained e.g. country briefings from FCO, information on organisations etc. The Business Committee had agreed today that no meetings would be scheduled between 23 October-3 November 2000 and 17 December 2000-4 January 2001. The Forward Work Programme will be amended to account for this.
(b) Walsh Visa
Noted and agreed. The Committee had asked for a copy of the joint evaluation of the Programme from the Department, which was not yet available. This would be considered on receipt, before deciding whether an oral briefing was necessary.
(c) Transcripts Noted. Completed transcripts of the evidence sessions with Dr Robson Davison and John Simpson had been issued to Members and published on the website. Due to work pressures on Committee staff, transcripts of the evidence sessions with the T&EA (29/6/00) and the Minister (6/7/00) had not yet been completed, but would be finalised as soon as possible.
Noted and agreed. For further evidence sessions, Committee staff will make proposed amendments to Members' questions before issue. The current procedure of publishing minutes of meetings, public evidence sessions and appropriate Committee responses on the website would continue, provided that the Committee did not deem these as sensitive or confidential.
(d) Legislation
Noted and agreed. The Assembly's Legal Adviser would be asked to give a short, informal briefing on the legislative process and the duties of statutory committees before the end of September. Following this, the Committee would begin to examine several pieces of subordinate legislation and decide whether an oral briefing was required on the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) legislation. 4. Chairman's Business
(a) Response to Department's Review of Student Finance Noted. Research from the advisory team had been circulated over recess, along with a draft outline Committee response to the Department. As the Department was likely to make recommendations on Student Finance by the end of September, the timescale for the Committee's response had been restricted.
Noted and agreed. Professor Osborne and his team to attend an extended meeting on 12 September to discuss research and the format of the Committee's response to the Department would then be finalised at the meeting on 19 September. In preparation for 12 September, Members to familiarise themselves with the research material, especially the paper proposing a series of options for consideration. Information requested from Assembly Research on hypothetical case types had not yet been received. Clerk to determine whether this material would be available in time to inform the Committee's response. Today's briefing from Dr Davison had been deferred as the video link with Andrew Cubie had necessitated a change of venue. Clerk to contact the Department to schedule the briefing for 12 or 14 September, and a summary provided in today's folders, would provide some information on this. To ensure an informed debate, any further papers from Dr Davison would be requested for circulation by Friday 8 September. The briefing on the processes involved in the Spending Review from George O'Doherty would be deferred until Thursday 21 September.
(b) Meeting with Minister 7 August Noted. Summary of Chairman's informal meeting with the Minister on 7 August distributed over recess. The Minister had offered a brief on the principles underpinning the Department's review of Student Finance, either before or after submission of the Committee's response. He had given an assurance that the Committee would be kept well informed, and given every opportunity to play an influential role in the Department's programme. The Chairman had expressed the Committee's wish to play a full part in the process and had requested information upfront on costing of options and the administrative problems of the current process, which may be covered in the forthcoming brief by Dr Davison.
(c) Programme for Enquiry Noted. A series of public meetings had been proposed to obtain a geographical spread of views to inform the enquiry. Agreed. These should be scheduled every fortnight, to retain press interest, and moved to after the Christmas recess if necessary. There was debate on whether an additional meeting should be added to cover the Fermanagh area. Members were to scrutinise the Programme and raise any omissions regarding prospective witnesses. The three advisers appointed in August would attend on 14 September to discuss the way forward, after which a provisional date for publication of the Committee's report to the Assembly would be agreed. Committee staff to arrange for another Member to accompany the Chairman and advisers to a working dinner on the evening of 13 September.
(d) New Deal Noted and agreed. The motion proposing an Assembly debate on New Deal to be resubmitted to the Business Office on 20 September, after finalisation of the response on Student Finance. The motion was sufficiently wide ranging to allow any concerns emerging from the evidence session on 7 September to be included in the debate. Mr Cubie appeared before the Committee by video link in a session held in Castle Buildings. Although the session was closed due to space restrictions, Hansard recorded details of this evidence session, the transcript of which will be formally published and placed on the Committee website in due course. 6. AOB
(a)Public Expenditure Timetable
Noted and agreed. Chairman to write to Francie Molloy (Chairman, Finance Committee) to clarify when Committee scrutiny of the process occurs.
(b) Ministerial Press Releases
Noted.
(c) NIBEP Launch
Agreed. Committee staff to contact NIBEP detailing Members' attendance at the launch on 13 September.
(d) Press Notices for 5 and 7 September Noted and agreed.
(e) Next Meeting Thursday 7 September at 2:00pm. Meeting closed at 4:40pm. Esmond Birnie 12/9/2000
ESMOND BIRNIE |
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