Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Act 2019

Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act (Functions of Authority)

4. (1) Section 9(1) of the Principal Act is amended:

(a) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

“(c) approve a provider’s quality assurance procedures and monitor and review the effectiveness of such procedures (including such procedures as they stand amended for the time being),”;

(b) in paragraph (j) —

(i) by the substitution of “awards that are awards included within the Framework” for “awards recognised within the Framework”, where it firstly occurs, and

(ii) by the substitution of “such awards” for “awards recognised within the Framework”, where it secondly occurs;

(c) in paragraph (o), by the substitution of “completion,” for “completion, and”;

(d) in paragraph (p), by the substitution of “appropriate,” for “appropriate.”; and

(e) by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph (p):

“(q) share, as it considers appropriate, any information collected through the performance of its functions with a Department of State, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Solas and any other body the Authority considers appropriate, subject to the general law (and in particular the relevant law of the European Union and the Data Protection Act 2018 ),

(r) make decisions that it is appropriate that particular awards be regarded, for the purposes of this Act, as awards that are included within the Framework, and

(s) as an element of the process of making decisions of the foregoing kind, prepare and publish a list of awarding bodies for the purposes of having awards included within the Framework.”.

(2) Section 9(2) of the Principal Act is amended:

(a) in paragraph (d), by the substitution of “Minister,” for “Minister, and”;

(b) in paragraph (e), by the insertion, after “State Examinations Commission” of “, Solas”, and the substitution of “Authority considers appropriate,” for “Authority considers appropriate.”; and

(c) by the insertion of the following paragraphs after paragraph (e):

“(f) conduct any reviews that it considers necessary and expedient for the performance of its functions, and

(g) publish reports of its reviews, evaluations and determinations as it considers appropriate.”.