Joint Committee on Education & Training

Full description

Establishment and Function

The Education and Training Committee was a Joint Investigatory Committee of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. It was established under the Parliamentary Committees and Parliamentary Salaries and Superannuation Acts (Amendment) Act 2003 (Act No. 3/2003). The Committee makes recommendations to the Minister, who is then responsible for addressing the Committee's recommendations.

The functions of the Committee as described by the Act are to inquire into, consider and report to the Parliament on any proposal, matter or thing concerned with education and training.

Joint Investigatory Committees were to consist of not more than 9 members, with at least two members of the Committee being obtained from the Legislative Council, and two members from the Legislative Assembly (Parliamentary Committees Act 2003; Act No. 110/2003, S. 21).

Committee Inquiry Process

The five phases of the Inquiry process are as follows:
1. The committee advertises its Terms of Reference and calls for submissions, during which time a discussion paper may be prepared and published.
2. The Committee gathers information, including fact and opinion found in the submissions and presented in Public Hearings, inspections and field trips.
3. The Committee considers the arguments, evidence and data it has gathered, and agrees upon findings and recommendations.
4. The Committee tables a report, which includes its recommendations, in the Parliament.
5. The Minister who initiated the Inquiry or who has portfolio responsibility for the matter addressed by the Inquiry is responsible for replying to the Committee's recommendations. The Minister has six months from the date of the tabling of the report to respond. The Minister may accept, reject, modify or adapt the Committee's recommendations.

(Information obtained from Parliamentary Committees website, http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au)

On 16 April 2015 this Committee was amalgamated with Economic Development, Infrastructure and Outer Suburban/Interface Services Committee to form the Economic, Education, Jobs and Skills Committee.

**Special Access conditions

Although records transferred from this agency are available for public inspection, special access conditions apply. The records have been transferred to the Public Record Office on the understanding that they remain the property of the Parliament of Victoria. Parliamentary records are transferred on condition that all requests for access will be referred to the Clerk of the Legislative Council/Legislative Assembly as appropriate, for determination in each case.

Application to inspect the records should be made to the appropriate officer and written authorisation must be presented at the Public Record Office Search Rooms before records can be made available for inspection.