24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, the need for those would have gone away and that will be a set of responsibilities for the new commission.
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, as I say—
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Sorry?
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
This is the new mechanism through which the entire post-16 education sector is funded, so it will have implications, and they will be, I would suggest, positive implications, because, for the first time, funding will be allocated on the basis of a common…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Absolutely.
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, they wouldn't tell us, and they wouldn't need to tell us. The arrangement is premised on access to public funds, effectively. So, I think I want to perhaps move us away from this idea of it simply being a database. In terms of the identification of…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
I think at this point, if I may, on that, I can ask perhaps Zenny to help with some of the detail around that.
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, again, the set of—. The previous committee was clear that there should be ongoing consultation with stakeholders during the passage of the Bill. We had initial conversations with the sector around the point at which it was sensible to ask for there to…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Yes, that is the case, but that isn't the test for the new commission. It will be a matter for institutions to decide to register in different categories on the register, and the implications of that will be set out by the commission itself. So, we have an…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, there is a set of choices that the commission will need to make around how these arrangements work. Obviously, we've just been talking about IT staff, but statistical staff and so on, all of those have already been baked into the costs—the head count…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Okay. So, there are two points there. So, the first question, 'Absent the ONS risk, would it have been plan A?', basically, if I can put it like that, if I can paraphrase your question—the answer to that is 'no'. I myself would find it very difficult to…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, I do think it's robust. You are right to say that we do draw on Qualifications Wales's experiences and on Welsh Government's costs base as well, but that isn't the only source of evidence. So, obviously, we know about the work that HEFCW already does…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, it is reasonably succinct. So, I could perhaps just give you a quick flavour of it, if you would like, Mr Fox. So, just to give you context, we've done some IT costings workshops with the digital team to test some of these assumptions and to revise the…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Sure. The costs for the programme team are not in the RIA because they're not actually variable costs that are associated with the programme. So, the Welsh Government would have established, regardless of the Bill progressing, a team that would be there to…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
I have got them, but perhaps—. It's tabulated, so I'm happy to write to you, Chair, but I can read them into the Record now, if you would prefer that.
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Yes, certainly. Just one point on the headline number there that you quoted, Mr Fox—the number is correct, but what I would say is that only £3.3 million of those costs are new; the £9.7 million balance relates to existing HEFCW and Welsh Government staffing…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Sure. Well, there are the risks we've just talked about, in terms of some of the operational aspects, which I won't repeat. There are the ongoing questions, aren't there, of financial control for the commission, which are customary and well-established, and…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
No, I understand that; I'm just saying HEFCW itself wouldn't be doing nothing—it's already responding to those challenges is the point that I'm making. But it's doing that against the context of institutional and funding arrangements that I contend aren't the…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Yes, it is a significant criticism. It isn't one that I agree with. Just to go back to the point I made at the start, if I may, I don't think I could remotely defend a do-nothing option, given the set of changes that I was outlining at the start and the…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Yes, certainly. So, the rates currently quoted are—. Well, firstly, obviously, there's a significant fluctuation in market rates at the moment around some of these consultancy costs. But the figures in the document are current market rates at the more prudent…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, you mention the location strategy. The figures in the document are based on a steer that my predecessor gave to provide a baseline for benchmarking purposes only. And that was to explore a combination of options in south-east Wales that reflected the…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Chair, if I may, I think the point at which it might be more helpful to look at these granular value for money questions, if I can put it like that, is when we have had that further opportunity to work through with stakeholders the implications of some of…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, some of these decisions are yet to be taken in the nature of the commission being set up and established. That'll unfold over the coming months. But, I just want to be very clear with you, I am not suggesting that I am looking for a budget which is the…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Absolutely, Chair. My intention is—. We're working now with stakeholders on these choices—well, some of them are choices for the new commission, to be clear, but, in the implementation responsibilities, we're working now with stakeholders in relation to some…
24 Tachwedd 2021 , Finance Committee
Bil Addysg Drydyddol ac Ymchwil (Cymru): Sesiwn dystiolaeth
Well, I think one example is the one I've given you already in relation to the location spend. So, that will, I think, need to be looked at afresh in light of changes in work patterns due to COVID, really. So, that's one example. There will be others.
