44.— (1) Subject to section 45, an education and training board may establish committees to—

(a) perform such one or more of its functions as, in its opinion, could be better or more conveniently performed by a committee, or

(b) advise it in relation to the performance by it of any of its functions,

and may determine the terms of reference and regulate the procedure of any such committee.

(2) A committee established under subsection (1) shall consist of not more than 12 members and may, subject to subsection (9) and subsection (12)(c), consist partly of members who are not members of the education and training board concerned.

(3) The chief executive, or a member of staff of an education and training board, other than a member of staff appointed as a member of the board under section 30(1)(b), shall not be a member of a committee of that board.

(4) An education and training board may appoint a person to be chairperson of a committee established under subsection (1).

(5) Subject to subsection (6), a chief executive or a member of staff of an education and training board shall, when requested to do so by a committee of that board, attend at a meeting of that committee.

(6) A chief executive or member of staff referred to in subsection (5) shall not attend the meeting referred to in that subsection where the chief executive or member of staff concerned believes that attendance by him or her is inconsistent with the due performance of his or her functions as chief executive or member of staff, as the case may be.

(7) Subject to subsection (9), an education and training board shall, upon being so directed by the Minister, establish a committee to perform, in relation to all or part of the functional area of the board, such functions of the board as are specified in the direction concerned.

(8) A committee established under subsection (7) shall consist of such and so many members as the Minister shall direct.

(9) The Minister may direct that a committee established under subsection (1) or pursuant to a direction under subsection (7) shall consist—

(a) partly of members who are members of the education and training board concerned and partly of members who are not members of that board, or

(b) exclusively of members who are members of the education and training board concerned.

(10) An education and training board may, with the consent of the Minister, appoint a person to be chairperson of a committee established under subsection (7), and shall appoint a person to be chairperson of such committee where the Minister so directs.

(11) The Minister may give directions to education and training boards in relation to the committees of those boards established under subsection (1) or subsection (7) where the functions of a committee shall include the performance by the committee of—

(a) the functions of a board of management of a recognised school maintained by the board, or

(b) functions which are the same as or substantially the same as, functions exercised by the boards of management referred to in paragraph (a), in relation to—

(i) centres for education maintained by it,

(ii) education or training facilities maintained or resourced by it, or

(iii) children detention schools, prisons or facilities maintained by other public service bodies where the board provides education or training.

(12) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (11), directions given to education and training boards under that subsection may specify—

(a) subject to subsection (9), the composition of those committees which, in the case of a recognised school, may include representatives of the patron, parents, staff and students of the school and such other persons who have a special interest in or knowledge of matters relating to education, as the Minister thinks appropriate,

(b) a requirement that members of those committees shall reside within a specified distance of the recognised school, centre for education, education or training facility, children detention school, prison or facility maintained by any other public service body where the board provides education or training, as the case may be, and

(c) notwithstanding subsection (9), that those committees may consist exclusively of members who are not members of the education and training boards by which they were established in order to meet the residence requirement referred to in paragraph (b).

(13) A member of a committee established under subsection (1) may be removed from office at any time by the education and training board concerned.

(14) A member of a committee established under subsection (7) may be removed from office at any time by the education and training board concerned with the consent of the Minister, and shall be removed where the Minister so directs.

(15) Subject to subsection (17), an education and training board may at any time dissolve a committee established under subsection (1).

(16) Subject to subsection (17), an education and training board may, with the consent of the Minister, at any time dissolve a committee established under subsection (7) and the board shall dissolve the committee where the Minister so directs.

(17) Where—

(a) an education and training board proposes to dissolve a committee under subsection (15) or (16), and

(b) that committee is a committee to which subsection (11) applies,

that education and training board shall comply with sections 16 and 17 of the Act of 1998 before effecting the dissolution.

(18) The acts of every committee established under this section (other than subsection (1)(b)) shall be subject to confirmation by the education and training board that established it, save where the Minister otherwise directs.

(19) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Vocational Education (Amendment) Act 2001 by section 4(1), a subcommittee established under subsection (1) or pursuant to a direction under subsection (3) of section 31 of that Act, which immediately before the establishment day performs any of the functions referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (11) shall continue in being on and after the establishment day as if—

(a) in the case of a subcommittee established under subsection (1) of section 31 of that Act, it were a committee established by the relevant education and training board under subsection (1), or

(b) in the case of a subcommittee established pursuant to a direction under subsection (3) of section 31 of that Act, it were a committee established by the relevant education and training board under subsection (7),

and the provisions of this Act shall apply to the subcommittee accordingly.

(20) In this section “relevant education and training board” has the same meaning as it has in section 54.