Vol. 481 No. 7
285 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason Sligo Town Vocational Education Committee did not receive approval for the provision of a post leaving certificate course in telesales; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16829/97]
Following a briefing in which the needs of the programme and the limitations of what could be approved were set out, applications were invited from all vocational education committees to tender for participation in the international teleservices initiative. The overall number of centres which could be approved under the programme was limited by the capital budget for the initiative, with the required investment per centre being very large.
The applications received exceeded the number of centres which could be supported. Specific criteria used for the selection process included the stated language proficiency levels of staff, geographical spread and population density, proximity to other potential providers, previous track record in PLC provision, scale of PLC provision etc.
In ensuring that the spread of provision within the limitations of resources was maximised, my Department was unable to approve the course in a number of locations. This was a feature of the limitation on the overall number of centres which could be approved, and did not in any way reflect on the quality of the proposals or provision in the centres concerned.
