Standards and Regulation Committee
Purpose
The Standards and Regulation Committee acts with delegated authority from the Board of Trustees and is responsible for
- the monitoring and review of all quality assurance arrangements ensuring OCN North East Region meets the requirements of its regulatory authorities and licensing bodies
- safeguarding the interests of learners and maintaining public confidence in OCN North East Region Units and Qualifications within the NQF, QCF, and SQF frameworks
- reporting to the Board on organisational quality performance.
NB this excludes the remit of the Access to HE Committee which monitors the regulation of OCN North East Region as an Access Validating Agency (AVA) through QAA.
Remit
The Standards and Regulation Committee will:
Quality Assurance of Centres
1. Oversee adherence to, and advise on, quality assurance processes including malpractice, equality and diversity, the learner voice, complaints, appeals.
2. Ensure assessment and certification arrangements are consistent, rigorous and lead to awards at the appropriate standard of achievement.
3. Monitor and review risk through the quality risk register and monitor that action is taken, as appropriate.
Qualifications Approval and Review
4. Ensure effective internal controls for ensuring the integrity of OCN North East Region and NOCN qualifications through responding to internal audit outcomes, Quality Reviewer performance reports etc.
5. Monitor and review all units and qualifications in OCN North East Region’s portfolio ensuring timeliness, fitness for purpose and that service standards are adhered to.
6. Monitor the effectiveness of the Qualification and Unit Development Group and Unit Approval and Review Panel.
Regulation
7. Receive and give feedback on regulatory review and self-assessment reports and action plans and make recommendation for approval to the Board of Trustees.
8. Participate as appropriate in appeals and complaints at the request of the Board of Trustees.
Quality Improvement
9. Monitor key quality performance indicators, assess performance against targets and oversee use in annual business planning.
10. Receive, review and recommend new policies and procedures relating to assessment and quality control to the Board of Trustees.
11. Monitor progress on all plans ensuring quality improvement for qualifications provision and the organisation as a whole through impact assessment.
Membership
The Standards and Regulation Committee will comprise a maximum of 10 members and include the following:
Chair (who will be a member of the Board of Trustees)
Vice Chair (who will be a member of the Board of Trustees)
Representation from at least 4 educational sectors
Each member will be required to record any interests in a register kept by the Company Secretary. This will be updated on an annual basis.
- Co-opted members will be eligible to contribute to the quorum.
The Chief Executive and members of the Senior Management Team will be in attendance at Committee meetings, where appropriate and at the request of the Chair. The Committee will be serviced by the Director of Quality and Operations and supported by the Quality Development Manager. The Administrator (Quality) will carry out the role of Minute Secretary.
Meetings
The Standards and Regulation Committee will normally meet three times per year and report to the Board of Trustees through a standing agenda item. A further meeting to include a number of Standards and Regulation Committee members will be the Self Assessment Report Validation Panel which will provide recommendation to the Committee.
Quoracy
For the purposes of decision making, the committee requires a quorum of two plus the Chair or Vice Chair, which will include co-opted Committee members.
Reporting Procedures
The Committee will report to each routine meeting of the Board of Trustees.
