A Government Bill, introduced by Huw Lewis, Minister for Education and Skills. The Business Committee remitted the Bill to the Children, Young People and Education Committee.

About the Bill

The Qualifications Wales Bill (‘the Bill’) provides for the establishment of Qualifications Wales as the independent regulatory body responsible for the recognition of awarding bodies and the review and approval of non-degree qualifications in Wales.

The Bill is intended to address the four main limitations of the current system, which are outlined as:

• there is no single organisation that is dedicated to ensuring the effectiveness of qualifications and the qualification system;
• there are no powers to prioritise qualifications and to thereby focus regulatory activity where it is most needed;
• there are no powers to select a single provider of a given qualification to ensure that learners across Wales take the same qualification; and
• the capacity to drive forward the strategic development of qualifications within the current arrangements is too limited.

The Bill provides Qualifications Wales with the following principal aims, and it must act compatibly with these when exercising its functions:

• Ensuring that qualifications, and the Welsh qualification system, are effective for meeting the reasonable needs of learners in Wales; and
• Promoting public confidence in qualifications and in the Welsh qualification system.

The following article provides a simple guide to the provisions and background of the Bill.

Welsh Glossary (PDF, 150KB) (Only available in Welsh)

Current Stage

The Qualifications Wales Act 2015 became law in Wales on 5 August 2015

Record of Passage in the National Assembly for Wales

The following table sets out the dates for each stage of the Bill’s passage through the National Assembly for Wales.

Contact information

This bill has been remitted to the Children, Young People and Education Committee

Clerk: Gareth Rogers

Phone: 0300 200 6565

Email: Contact@assembly.wales