Vol. 487 No. 2
17 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will give details of his assessment of the administration costs of establishing regional education boards; the way in which this compares with the administration costs of the vocational education committees; and the plans, if any, he has for organisation and development of the VEC system. [3660/98]
In introducing the Education (No. 2) Bill, 1997 I indicated to the House that since taking up office I have discovered a 1995 estimate that the then proposed regional education boards would cost £40 million a year to run and that there was no credible plan drawn up for their establishment. As the House will be aware I do not propose to establish these education boards.
Meaningful comparison between that estimate and the administrative costs of the vocational education committees is not possible because the duties and responsibilites of vocational education committees and the formerly proposed boards are different. Whereas the functions proposed for the education boards centred around the co-ordination of education services in their regions, the powers, duties and responsibilities of vocational education committees relate to the provision of education services both in an in school and in an out of school context within a significantly smaller geographical area. I can, however, tell the Deputy that the administrative staff costs in the VEC sector in 1995 amounted to approximately £13 million.
The strengthening of vocational education is an important part of my agenda and I am committed to full consultations with all contributors to this sector on the precise nature of legislation to achieve this end. Following these consultations, I intend to introduce amending legislation which will deal with a range of issues including the future composition and development of vocational education committees.
