I intend to take Questions Nos. 16 and 66 together.
I intend to fulfil the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to establish an intermediate education structure. The White Paper will elaborate in detail on the powers, functions and responsibilities of Regional Education Councils (RECs), which will be established under new legislation. My intention, subject to final decisions at Government level, is that the RECs will have substantial co-ordination and support service functions, broadly along the lines proposed in the Position Paper on RECs, but informed by the subsequent roundtable discussions.
In the Position Paper on RECs, it was recognised that specific arrangements would be necessary in relation to the ownership/trusteeship of Vocational Education Committee (VEC) schools. My view is that Vocational Education Committees would continue to function as statutorily-based providers of education within the framework established nationally by the Minister for Education and regionally by each REC. Vocational education committees would have the same relationship with the RECs as the other providers of education, within their remit.