Official Report 61KB pdf
Good morning and welcome to the 20th meeting in 2001 of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee. The first item on the agenda will be discussed in public, after which we will move into private session.
The next instrument is the Right to Time Off for Study or Training (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2001 (SSI 2001/211). Along with Jim Logie, we have David Seers and Rosemary Whelan who are respectively team leader and policy executive of the Scottish Executive Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Department's training for young people branch. Are there any questions?
I would like some clarification. My concern about the statutory instrument on right to time off for study is that it seems to concentrate exclusively on Scottish vocational qualifications. Does it allow youngsters between the ages of 16 and 18—skillseekers, in other words—the right to time off for study for higher national certificates and higher national diplomas, for example?
I can confirm that that is the case. The question might have arisen because the amending regulations make reference only to SVQs. However, the principal regulations that were made in 1999, which the present regulations amend, also include national qualifications.
Can you confirm that the principal regulations say that young people can study towards any relevant qualification that is awarded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority? That is an important point on which the committee needs strong assurances.
Under the right, anybody who has not achieved a standard grade at grades 1 to 3 awarded by the SQA has the right to study towards those qualifications.
Are national certificates and higher national certificates included?
Yes.
Do members of the committee have any other questions? Is the statutory instrument agreed to?
Meeting continued in private until 12:54.