12 "Europass" for qualifications
and competences
| (25218)
5032/04
COM(03) 796
| Draft Decision on a single framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass)
|
| Legal base | Articles 149 and 150 EC; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Education and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | Minister's letters of 2 and 15 April and 5 May 2004
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 42-ix (2003-04), para 8 (4 February 2004)
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| To be discussed in Council | 28 May 2004
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
12.1 In 2002, the Barcelona European Council called for further
action "to ensure the transparency of diplomas and qualifications".[21]
"Transparency" appears to mean improving understanding
and appreciation of qualifications and competences.
12.2 There are already some EU-initiated documents
— such as the European Curriculum Vitae (CV) — which
are intended to help people communicate their qualifications to
educational bodies, prospective employers and others.
12.3 The draft Decision provides for the following
documents to be brought together into one portfolio:
- The European CV, which would
be completed by the person to whom it relates.
- The Mobilpass, which would replace the present
Europass-Training. It would record periods of learning in another
country (for example, where a university in the UK arranges for
one of its students to complete a year's course in a university
in another Member State). The document would be completed by
the organisations which sent and hosted the person.
- The Diploma Supplement, which would give details
of higher education degrees and would be completed by the institution
which granted the degree.
- The Certificate Supplement, which would record
vocational qualifications and would be issued by the institution
granting the qualification.
- The European Language Portfolio, in which the
person concerned would record the linguistic and cultural skills
he or she had acquired.
This portfolio of documents would be known as the
"Europass".
12.4 Each Member State would be required to designate
a Europass National Agency, which would be responsible, among
other things, for coordinating, at national level, the issue of
Europass documents, setting up the national information system,
promoting the use of the Europass and providing information on
learning opportunities throughout Europe.
12.5 The Legislative Financial Statement attached
to the draft Decision gives an estimate of €150,000 for the
annual cost of operating a Europass National Agency. The Financial
Statement comments that "At a 50% rate of co-financing, this
means that supporting the operation of the national agencies should
cost on average €75,000 per country per year".[22]
The Commission's total committed expenditure on the implementation
of the Decision is set at €2 million in 2005 and the same
amount in 2006; the Commission expects expenditure in subsequent
years to be much the same.
12.6 The Government supports the proposal.
12.7 When we considered the draft Decision in February,
we noted that the Commission and the Europass National Agencies
would be required to ensure that "the relevant Community
and national provisions concerning the processing of personal
data and the protection of privacy are fully respected".
Because of the importance of proper protection of personal data,
we asked the Minister to obtain the opinion of the Information
Commissioner on the adequacy of the safeguards contained in the
draft Decision and to tell us the Commissioner's view.
12.8 We also asked the Minister if he agreed with
the Commission's estimate of the likely cost of co-financing the
UK Europass Agency and if there would be any other costs to the
UK of implementing the proposal. Moreover, we asked if there would
be one Europass National Agency for the whole of the UK or separate
Agencies for the territories with devolved administrations.
12.9 We noted that paragraph 2.4 of Annex VI provides
that access to documents, including personal data, would be allowed
only to the person concerned. We asked, therefore, for the Minister's
comments on how authorised bodies, such as universities which
complete Degree Supplements, would be able to correct any mistakes
in documents they have created on the information system.
12.10 We held the draft Decision under scrutiny pending
the Minister's replies.
The Minister's letters of 2 and 15 April and 5
May
12.11 In his letters of 2 and 15 April, the Minister
of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education at
the Department for Education and Skills (Mr Alan Johnson) replies
to our questions. His letter of 5 May tells us about recent developments.
12.12 Data protection: the Minister
says that there is no plan to introduce an additional database
at European-level, and the draft Decision has been amended to
remove any doubt about this. There would be no need, therefore,
to hold personal data on a shared database. The introduction of
the Europass would not affect the current arrangements for downloading
documents, such as the European CV, from existing sources. The
Information Commissioner has confirmed that no data protection
issues arise as a result of an individual downloading blank documents
from either European or national websites.
12.13 Costs: the Minister says that
the Government expects that the UK would be able to finance its
Europass National Agency within the budget proposed by the Commission
for 2005 and 2006, the transitional period. The UK could expect
to receive about €100,000 from the Commission for each of
those two years. There would be a small additional cost to the
UK of about £25,000 for each year.
12.14 One ENA for the UK or several:
at the moment, the Government sees no need for more than one Europass
National Agency for the UK, but it is consulting the devolved
administrations about how best to meet their needs.
12.15 Correcting mistakes in documents created
by educational bodies: The Minister says that educational
bodies will be responsible for amending documents they issue.
12.16 Recent developments: in April,
the European Parliament gave a first reading to the draft Decision.
The Minister has sent us a copy of the amendments it proposed.
He says that most of the European Parliament's amendments are
minor and that, in general, the Government supports them. They
will be considered by the Education Council on 28 May, together
with some non-contentious amendments to be proposed by the Presidency
on behalf of the Council working group. The Minister thinks it
likely that the Council will be able to reach a common position.
The revised text will then go back to the European Parliament
for consideration in the autumn.
Conclusion
12.17 We are grateful to the Minister for his
helpful replies to the points about which we asked. We have no
further questions to put to him about the present draft of the
Decision. Accordingly, we clear it from scrutiny.
21 Conclusions of the Barcelona European Council, 15-16
March 2002, point 44. Back
22
See page 50 of the Financial Statement. Back
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