Mr. Frank Vaughan:

My colleagues in QQI will correct me if I am wrong, but in regard to whether the fees are applicable currently, my understanding is that fees exist in a number of different respects. The fees in respect of validation of new programmes which have been included in the common awards system are being applied currently and have been applied since October 2013. I am sure committee members understand that in moving to this new competent award system - this is the core of the issue - providers must develop new programmes and these must be validated. This is associated with the quality assurance, as mentioned by colleagues from QQI and the Department. The validation fees are currently in place. Therefore, a provider seeking to provide a training course in any area or level will be asked to pay a validation fee to have the programme validated.

I understand the application of the changes in the fee structure for the issuing of certificates has been deferred by QQI until the beginning of July 2014. We welcome that and would like to see the deferral sustained beyond that. I will not comment on what I am not clear on, but I know that, as QQI mentioned, there is an option to introduce various other fee structures as part of the implementation of policy in a number of other areas. I confirm that validation fees are currently in place. We have some experience of this ourselves because, through congress, we submitted programmes for validation on a shared basis in July last year. We included a number of elements that were subject to no fee, but we have found that since October they are now subject to a fee for validation.