Minutes of Proceedings

The meeting opened in public session at 10.04 am.

1. Departmental Briefing on the June Monitoring Round and the Provisional Outturn for 2011-2012

The Committee moved to agenda item 5.

An official joined the meeting at 10.05 am.

The Committee was briefed by Mr John Smith, Director of Finance, on the June Monitoring round and the Provisional Outturn for 2011-2012.

The briefing was followed by a question and answer session.

10.21 am Mr Thomas Buchanan joined the meeting.

10.24 am Mr Barry McElduff joined the meeting.

The official left the meeting at 10.25am

10.25 am Mr Jim Allister left the meeting.

2. Apologies

Apologies are detailed above.

3. Chair’s Business

Agreed: The Committee agreed to schedule a briefing from Women’s Aid.

Agreed: The Committee agreed to schedule a briefing on the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Assessment Centre.

4. Minutes of the meeting held on 23 May 2012

Agreed: The minutes of the meeting were agreed.

5. Matters arising

The Committee noted a list of matters arising from the previous meeting.

6. Correspondence

The Committee considered the following items of correspondence:

• Departmental response to a request from the Committee for MLA contact details for the Student Loans Company

Agreed: The Committee agreed to confirm that the contact details are accurate.

• Departmental response on the Gerry Rogan Initiative Trust (GRIT) Experience 2 programme

Agreed: The Committee agreed to forward this response to GRIT.

• Departmental response on the future of EU Funding 2014 – 2020

Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.

• Departmental briefing paper on the New Employment Programme.

Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this paper.

• Correspondence from the Committee for Enterprise, Trade and Investment on its inquiry into Developing the Northern Ireland Economy through Innovation, Research and Development

Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this correspondence.

• Correspondence from the Committee for Education, enclosing a letter to the Minister for Employment and Learning on the post-16 SEN pupil provision

Agreed: The Committee agreed to forward the letter to the Minister for information and comment.

• Additional information supplied by the South-West College further to its briefing on 9 May 2012

Agreed: The Committee agreed to note this information.

• Correspondence from the Committee for Finance and Personnel on monitoring Post-Project Evaluations

Agreed: The Committee agreed to forward this correspondence to the Department for comment.

The Committee also noted one invitation received.

7. Draft Forward Work Programme

The Committee considered the draft Forward Work Programme up to 24 October 2012.

Agreed: The Committee agreed that it was content to schedule these briefings.

10.31 am Ms Michelle Gildernew joined the meeting.

Agreed: The Committee agreed to include answers to Assembly Questions on the dissolution of the Department in its next meeting pack.

8. Any Other Business

• The Committee agreed to consider further at its next meeting issues relating to Northern Ireland students in Scotland.

9. Date, time and place of next meeting

Agreed: The Committee agreed that the next meeting should be held on Wednesday, 13 June 2012, at 10.00 am in Room 29, Parliament Buildings.

The Chairperson adjourned the meeting at 10.33 am.  

Mr Basil McCrea
Chairperson, Committee for Employment & Learning