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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE NINETEENTH 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 Roger Hutchinson. 2. Draft Minutes of Meeting on Tuesday 67/00 (Closed Session)
Agreed. 3. Matters Arising
(a) Committee Responses
Noted. Responses to Programme for Government, Regional Development Strategy and Targeting Social Need issued over recess and published on Assembly website.
Noted and agreed. Committee to request the current status of the New TSN Action Plan. Short summary from Assembly Research, of how the revised Action Plan accounted for the Committee's response, to be circulated to Members.
(b) Issues raised with Department
Noted. Response from Minister (tabled) mainly outlined the positive aspects of PFI.
Agreed. Committee would keep PFI under review, to see how it worked in practice, before deciding if further action was needed.
Clerk to write to the Minister to determine whether there is central expertise to be drawn on by bodies applying to this initiative, as the procurement process is complex and can be labour intensive.
Noted. Minister had given verbal assurance that target in the Department's Business Plan was for 2000 genuinely additional places in further education. Agreed. Departmental officials attending today's evidence session to be asked whether these additional places were to be provided across the age spectrum, or limited to 18 year old and upwards. Also, whether there was the possibility of double counting if New Deal entrants chose the Further Education option under the Programme.
(c) Schedule for Committee Meetings Noted. Revised Forward work Programme will be available for consultation on 12 September. 4. Chairman's Business
(a) Government's Response to National Skills Taskforce.
Noted and agreed. Government's initial response to the final report of the National Skills Taskforce had been circulated over recess. Members were to examine the response before deciding whether this needed to be taken forward and included as an evidence session within the remit of the enquiry. Dr Steedman, adviser to the enquiry, had contributed to the research commissioned by the National Skills Taskforce.
(b) Remit of Advisers Noted and agreed. Members given details of the different emphasis allocated to the three advisers to reflect their background and skills. After examination, Members to raise any issues at the 14 September meeting.
Committee office to circulate recent NIERC report, which had been critical of training systems in place in Northern Ireland. 5. New Deal Evidence Session (Open Session) Committee took evidence on the effectiveness of the New Deal Programme from six separate sets of witnesses as follows:
Mary Lyons (Chief Executive, Springvale Training)
Trevor Wright (Bryson House) Danielle McAleese (Programme Manager, Enterprise Ulster) Dorothy McElwee (Head of Dept, Business Studies, North West Institute Further
and Higher Education) Gillian Kirk Lyness (Centre Manager, Mount Zion Community Resource Centre, Portadown)
Roy Gamble - Assistant Secretary, Department of Higher and Further Education,
Training and Employment (DHFETE) Hansard officially recorded the evidence session, the transcript of which will be officially published and placed on the Committee website in due course. 6. AOB (Closed Session)
(a) Press Notice
Noted and agreed. Draft press notice for 12 September meeting cleared for issue.
(b) Letter from Minister
Noted and agreed. Ministerial response to issues raised by the Chairman over recess was tabled. This would be examined in more detail at a future meeting.
(c) Student Finance Noted. Professor Osborne to lead discussion at meeting on 12 September. The Chairman urged Members to review the independent research which had been sent to Members over the week-end. (This had been revised, from first drafts previously circulated by Professor Osborne in the light of his meeting with the Chairman during recess.) The Committee decided the meeting would continue until Members were satisfied they had covered all issues they wished to include in their response to the Minister. It should be closed, in order to enable Members to work through the details of the options. Dr Davison will brief the Committee on 14 September at 12:15pm, on the existing structure for Student Finance, including financial data. Following this, the Committee's response would be finalised on Tuesday 19 September and forwarded to the Minister by the end of September.
Noted and agreed. Depending on the outcome of 12 September's meeting, the Committee would decide on the timing and the appropriateness of a meeting with the Minister. Clerk to request briefing from the Department before the announcement of the review of Student Finance and also to obtain information on the proposals submitted to the New Deal Review Committee in London, including the areas to be addressed locally.
(d) Date of Next Meeting Tuesday 12 September at 2:00pm. Meeting closed at 5:15pm. Esmond Birnie 14 September 2000
ESMOND BIRNIE |
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