9.— (1) The Minister may—

(a) having taken account of the matters referred to in subsection (4),

(b) having consulted with the relevant Minister, and

(c) with the consent of the Minister for Finance,

by order appoint a body (in this section referred to as an “appointed awarding authority”) to perform any or all of the functions of an awarding authority (in this section referred to as a “transferring awarding authority”).

(2) Notwithstanding the generality of subsection (1), an order of the Minister under that subsection may provide for one or more than one of the following:

(a) different appointed awarding authorities to perform different functions;

(b) different transferring awarding authorities for the purposes of transferring those different functions;

(c) the coming into operation on different days for different purposes or different provisions.

(3) An appointed awarding authority may be one or more than one of the following:

F16[(a) an education and training board;]

(b) a local authority;

(c) a board, authority or other body established by or under an enactment (other than the Companies Acts) whose functions include the support of, or the promotion of participation in, higher or further education or the administration of schemes of payments;

(d) a company under the Companies Acts, in which all the shares are held by or on behalf of or jointly with—

(i) the Minister or a relevant Minister, or

(ii) directors appointed by the Minister or a relevant Minister, or

(iii) a board, authority or other body referred to in paragraph (c),

and whose functions are conferred by or under an enactment and include the support of, or the promotion of participation in, higher or further education, or the administration of schemes of payments.

(4) Before making an order under subsection (1), the Minister, taking account of the need for efficiency, effectiveness and economy, shall have regard to the following matters:

(a) capacity of and resources available to awarding authorities for the purposes of performing functions conferred on them by or under this Act;

(b) the resources available for provision of student support;

(c) administration costs;

(d) the desirability of uniformity of standards;

(e) where applicable, any report furnished to the Minister under section 12 (4).

(5) Where a function of a transferring awarding authority is transferred pursuant to an order under subsection (1), the function shall no longer be under the direction, control or supervision of that transferring authority after the order is made.

(6) Nothing in subsection (5) shall prevent the Minister from directing by order under subsection (1) that a transferring awarding authority shall do one or both of the following after the order is made:

(a) perform a function referred to in section 10(2) and contained in the order;

(b) continue to pay grants, specified by the Minister in the order, to students or a class of students so specified and for a period so specified.

(7) An appointed awarding authority and a transferring awarding authority shall be such appointed awarding authority and transferring awarding authority for the purposes of each order made under subsection (1) and nothing in this section shall prevent—

(a) a transferring awarding authority in an order made under subsection (1) from being an appointed awarding authority in any subsequent order made under that subsection, or

(b) an appointed awarding authority in an order made under subsection (1) from being a transferring awarding authority in any subsequent order made under that subsection.

(8) In this section “relevant Minister” means—

(a) in the case of an appointed awarding authority that is a local authority, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, and

(b) in the case of any other appointed awarding authority, each Minister of the Government who performs functions in relation to that body.