Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 September 2022
1299. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 170 of 6 July 2022, if the new licensing model will be viewed as an equivalent qualification by third level institutions and be acceptable in lieu of leaving certificate results when applying for courses. [42301/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn 2017 SOLAS commissioned Bearing Point to undertake a review of its Construction Services operations, including the Safe Pass, CSCS and QSCS programmes. This review was conducted over a six – month period between May to October 2017 and involved widespread consultation with stakeholders to identify system and process improvements.
One of the key recommendations from the report was a requirement to decouple the award of CSCS \ QSCS cards from the educational qualifications awarded by QQI. CSCS \ QSCS programmes are best defined as a “Skills Assessment” event rather than training and as such are better aligned to a licence type model, which assess the competencies and skills of all applicants.
Once established, the statutory licensing system will replace the QQI accredited training model currently applicable to the issuance of CSCS \ QSCS cards. Therefore, the proposed new licensing system will have no direct linkage with second, third level educational awards or those awards for which QQI have responsibility.
The aim of introducing a licencing system is to improve the quality, standard of training and improving overall Health and Safety within the industry. Those applicants who successfully undertake the skills assessment aligned to the CSCS \ QSCS programmes will receive the appropriate license.
