EUROPEAN QUALITY CHARTER FOR MOBILITY—KEY
COMPETENCES FOR LIFE-LONG LEARNING (13190/06, 13192/06)
Letter from Bill Rammell MP, Minister
of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education,
Department for Education and Skills to the Chairman
Following negotiations between the Council and
the European Parliament, an agreement has been reached on these
dossiers at first reading. The new texts reflect the amendments
agreed with the European Parliament during this process. I attach
the new documents for your Committee's information and consideration
(not printed).
The European Quality Charter for Mobility
was previously considered by your committee as document 12639/05
and was cleared by your letter of 12 May 2006.[133]
The UK is content with the amended text. The
EP changes consist mainly of technical amendments or warm words
which change little of the substance. There is a welcome emphasis
on equal opportunities and access.
The two areas which worried the UK were portability
of student grants and loans and social security benefits and linguistic
preparation. The text contains acceptable phrasing on these issues.
For example "attention should be paid to the issue of portability".
The Charter itself retains the "wherever
possible" proviso in respect of language training. In the
logistical support section it only says that this could include
portability of government grants and loans from the country of
origin to the host country.
The Recommendation on Key Competences was
previously considered by your committee as document 13425/05 and
was cleared by your letter of 12 May 2006.[134]
The European Parliament amendments do not really
alter the substance of the document and the UK is content with
the revised text. The amended document continues to emphasise
that this is a reference tool for the Member States to use in
their own systems. There is no added prescription.
There is now a reference to "a sense of
initiative and entrepreneurship" and "social and
civic competence" in the competence titles. The former
reflects UK concerns about the narrow nature of just "entrepreneurship".
We expect both of the new texts to be adopted
in December, without further discussion in the Council.
3 November 2006
Letter from the Chairman to Bill Rammell
MP
Sub Committee G considered the above documents
and your accompanying letter dated 3 November at their meeting
on 23 November.
We welcome the increased flexibility that has
been secured in the texts. Noting that there are non-binding Recommendations,
we are happy to release them from scrutiny in advance of their
proposed adoption in Council.
23 November 2006
133 Correspondence with Ministers, 40th Report of Session
2006-07, HL Paper 187, p 505. Back
134
Correspondence with Ministers, 40th Report of Session 2006-07,
HL Paper 187, p 527. Back
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