Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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157. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills with regard to the Quality & Qualifications Ireland, if the Cork City Network of FETAC Quality Assured Community Education Providers will be added to the list of persons and groups that are receive waivers from fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18930/14]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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As the Deputy will be aware, QQI has, in accordance with Section 80 of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act, 2012, determined a number of fees which will apply to all providers seeking to engage with it, including those in the community and voluntary sector. The fees were determined in accordance with QQI's policy and fees which provides, inter alia, that fees will be comprehensive, coherent and reflect the amount and complexity of the work undertaken by QQI.

There is a significant amount of work involved in assessing applications from providers, so QQI can be assured that they meet their rigorous quality standards. The purpose of those standards is to ensure that providers have the capacity to provide quality programmes of education and training to their learners. The fees therefore underpin QQI's ability to ensure and monitor compliance with its standards. Furthermore, and importantly, the fees help to ensure that only those providers which are serious about complying with those standards, and have the capacity to do so, apply to QQI.

At the meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Social Protection on 19 February, QQI committed to work with ICTU, AONTAS and other representative bodies to discuss how providers in the further education and training sector, including community and voluntary bodies, could work with QQI to ensure they can continue to provide a quality offering to their learners, particularly in the context of the emerging policy and provision landscape being developed in the further education and training sector. QQI has since met with both AONTAS and the ICTU to explore the concerns of the community and voluntary sector and a number of follow-up meetings are planned.

With regard to possible waivers, a system of waivers has always applied to certification or award fees for certain categories of learners in the further education and training sector. This system has not been changed. It is not intended to introduce a new system of waivers for providers of education and training, for the reasons outlined above.