Written answers

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

Department of Education and Skills

Quality and Qualifications Ireland Administration

Photo of Aengus Ó SnodaighAengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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534. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the impact of the introduction of Quality and Qualifications Ireland fees on community-based education centres; if she has or if she will commission a regulatory impact assessment report. [42810/15]

Photo of Jan O'SullivanJan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Re-engagement, or the formal agreement of quality assurance with Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), is a requirement for legacy providers under the 2012 Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act. The fees to be applied to legacy providers seeking to re-engage with QQI, such as the organisations referred to by the Deputy, have yet to be determined. The charging of fees to providers is integrally linked with how QQI is implementing its quality assurance and quality improvement role. The principles and policy to inform QQI's application of fees were subject to extensive consultation.

At a meeting hosted by my Department on 9th December 2014 involving representatives from QQI and the community and voluntary sector, it was confirmed that QQI would convene a working group of representatives from the sector to consider the implications of re-engagement for that sector in more detail. It was agreed that 2015 would essentially be a lead-in time for the re-engagement process and that the issue of fees for community and voluntary providers would not therefore arise until 2016.

QQI established a Joint QQI /Community and Voluntary Working Group in partnership with the community and voluntary sector to enable a process of collaboration and engagement with key stakeholders and providers. The working group, which is facilitated by an independent facilitator with extensive experience in the community voluntary sector, had its first meeting on 3rd March 2015, and has subsequently met on 4 other occasions. A further meeting is scheduled for December 2015.

The working group also jointly hosted a consultative event on QQI's quality assurance guidelines and criteria relevant to this sector which took place on 30th June 2015. Through these initiatives, QQI and the community and voluntary sector are engaging on a range of operational, developmental and strategic matters in the specific context of quality assurance and re-engagement. There are no plans to conduct a regulatory impact analysis.

The work of the group will assist QQI in clarifying its operational requirements for future re-engagement with community and voluntary sector organisations.

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