Dáil debates

Thursday, 13 June 2019

Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Bill 2018 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed)

 

2:30 pm

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for their interesting and in-depth contributions, and I welcome the support that has been expressed. Several different issues have been raised and I will try to deal with some of them. Deputies Thomas Byrne and Mattie McGrath raised a point last night about the protection of enrolled learners, PEL, fund and the resourcing of the learner protection fund, which was raised again today as well. The fund, as proposed in this Bill, is designed to address shortfalls which have been identified in the current arrangements for the protection of enrolled learners. The practical implementation and operation of the provision relating to PEL under the existing 2012 Act have proved problematic. The learner protection fund provides a comprehensive solution to these challenges in a cost-effective manner. While the Bill contains an enabling provision allowing the Exchequer to contribute to the PEL fund if required, the intention is that the fund will be fully resourced from provider contributions, and that the potential for risk transfer to the State will be avoided. The approach being taken to the learner protection fund in the Bill is based on models that have been adopted and successfully implemented in other jurisdictions, such as Australia and New Zealand.

Community and voluntary sector fees were also mentioned and were also debated when this Bill went through the Seanad. There is a proposal to exempt some sections of this sector from the annual charge and providers are under no obligation to engage with QQI. Providers only have to contribute to the learner protection fund in cases where they wish to have their programmes validated by QQI. The community and voluntary sector is not a homogenous group. QQI has approximately 130 providers that have self-declared as community and voluntary. This is a very diverse group of providers, with an equally diverse cohort of learners. Some of the self-declared community and voluntary providers operate on a for-profit commercial basis and charge students fees for programmes. Protection for enrolled learner measures are necessary to ensure the payments made by these students are safeguarded in these cases. Some of the community and voluntary providers will be automatically exempt from paying into the fund, as QQI has advised that about 25% of the providers in this category are only delivering programmes up to level 5 on the national framework of qualifications. These tend to be very short-term programmes of less than three months' duration. Similarly, any programmes where money is not paid on behalf of or by a learner will be exempt from the fund. This would include programmes that are publicly funded by the Exchequer through back-to-work schemes or upskilling programmes offered by education and training boards, ETBs, for example. The intention is that the PEL charge will only apply when a provider accepts moneys from or on behalf of a learner in respect of programmes with a minimum duration of three months. The annual charge for the learner protection fund will be developed by QQI in consultation with all relevant stakeholders against a set of criteria which will include the number of learners enrolled on the programme, the level of the fees being charged by providers, and the risk weighting. QQI will be asked specifically to consult with providers before the level of payments into the fund is agreed. It should be noted that following its passage through the Seanad, QQI will now be required to undertake periodic reviews of the fund. As part of this review process, QQI must consult with providers on the operation of the fund and the levels of the annual charge.

Employment rights have been raised by many Members.

I assure the House that I am probably the Member who most wants to ensure that teachers are properly paid and their conditions of work are proper and appropriate. This matter was also raised in the Seanad.

We have strengthened the QQI's role as a regulator in this regard. For example, we have addressed these concerns and strengthened the provisions of the international education mark, IEM, to ensure that the providers who hold that mark are in compliance with employment law. This includes an additional power for QQI to withdraw the IEM from those providers that it finds to be in breach of employment law.

I wish to highlight the role and work of Mr. Patrick King, whom I appointed as a mediator to work with the employer and employee representatives in this sector. He is engaging with those stakeholders in a bid to secure an agreement on a set of appropriate employment standards. As I have informed the Seanad, I want all sides to continue their engagement in the mediation process with the aim of reaching a comprehensive agreement that will benefit the sector in the short and long term. As Deputy Jan O'Sullivan requested, I will keep her informed as this issue develops and passes through Dáil Éireann.

Deputy Thomas Byrne has been helpful regarding the Bill. Numerous times, he referred to stakeholder consultation process on the Bill. I understand that the Joint Committee on Education and Skills, which is chaired by Deputy O'Loughlin, is organising a stakeholder engagement meeting on Tuesday, 18 June, which is next week.

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