Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1976 > Committee of Public Accounts > Report - Appropriation Accounts 1973 - 1974

APPENDIX 8.

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION—STUDENT ASSISTANCE

13 April, 1976.

Mr. F. Geoghegan,

Secretary,

Committee of Public Accounts,

Leinster House,

Dublin 2.

Appropriation Accounts 1973-74

Vote 30—Vocational Education

Subhead I.2: Regional Technical Colleges—Student Assistance

With reference to the proceedings of the Public Accounts Committee on 22nd January, 1976, I enclose, as requested in relation to question 353, a note on the question of student assistance in the Regional Technical Colleges.

I regret the delay which has occurred in the further investigation of this matter.

Copies of this letter and accompanying note are being sent to the Department of Finance.

D. Ó LAOGHAIRE,

An Rúnaí,

An Roinn Oideachais.

Note

1. Student assistance in Colleges coming under Vocational Education Committees has traditionally been given in the form of scholarships from the Committees in accordance with Section 29 of the Vocational Education Act, 1930 which is as follows:

“A vocational education committee may, with the approval of the Minister, establish or assist in establishing scholarships tenable within or outside its area and fix the amounts and tenure of such scholarships and the conditions on which they may be awarded and held”.

Student assistance has, therefore, been a normal part of the expenditure from the fund of each Vocational Education Committee, this fund being maintained by the Grants made by the Department out of Subhead A of the Vote for Vocational Education and by the amount contributed by the rating authority.

2. With the opening of the Regional Technical Colleges from 1970 onwards the amount set aside from Committees funds for scholarship purposes was increased. Total expenditure had already amounted to £176,190 by 1972-73. It was felt that this sum should be considerably increased in 1973-74 and the matter was taken up with the Department of Finance on 7th February 1973. An additional sum of £120,000 was sought for inclusion in subhead A of the Vote. This was not sanctioned by the Department of Finance at the time but they subsequently accepted the opening of a new subhead I.2 when approving the estimate for 1973-74. In the absence of a specific Department of Finance sanction, the Auditors raised the question and the Department of Finance issued the minute of 27 March 1975 of which a copy is attached to this note.

3. In 1973-74 the total amount spent by Committees on scholarships amounted to £234,725, the amount within this sum attributable to Regional Technical Colleges being £198,380. It should be noted in this connection that Vocational Education Committees award scholarships also at third level institutions which are not Regional Technical Colleges, namely, the Colleges of Technology in Dublin, Colleges of Music, etc.

4. Subhead I.2 of the Vote for Vocational Education is not analogous to subhead I.1 which provides for the running costs of Regional Technical Colleges. The latter subhead involves payment only to the eight Committees within whose area the Colleges have been established. Subhead I.2 on the other hand involves payments to all thirty-eight Committees and it had not seemed reasonable to the Department of Education to separate such payments from the general grants paid out of subhead A of the Vote.

5. If separate payment were to be made from subhead I.2 there would need to be a separate apportionment in relation to each Committee’s scheme and this apportionment would have to be confirmed by statutory regulation in accordance with section 53 (1) of the 1930 Act. There is also the problem that the actual out-turn of expenditure on these scholarships is not available until after the close of the financial year. Money apportioned for these scholarships would then, presumably, need to be kept by each Committee in a separate account and these accounts separately audited by the Local Government Auditors.

6. Subhead I.2 would not present a complete picture of the extent of assistance from this Vote to students in technical colleges even if all scholarships to Regional Technical Colleges were grouped within it. The large sector of the Colleges of Technology in Dublin, the NIHE Limerick, the Colleges of Music, etc. would continue to come within subhead A of the Vote.

7. It has now been agreed between the Department of Education and the Department of Finance that subhead I.2 will be removed from the Vote in 1977.

Enclosure

27 March, 1975.

An Rúnaí,

An Roinn Oideachais.

I am directed by the Minister for Finance to refer to your Department’s minute (F 39/6/7) of 6 December, 1974 and to give covering sanction for the introduction of a new Subhead “I.2” (Regional Technical Colleges— Student Assistance) in 1973/74.

It is noted that the introduction of a new Subhead was not requested by your Department in the original minute of 7 February, 1973 and subsequent correspondence, and it is understood that your Department considers the present Subhead arrangement anomalous. Accordingly, the matter might be reviewed so that any necessary changes may be made in the Estimates for 1976.

B. SCULLY,

An Roinn Airgeadais.