- Can an application for approval under clause 10 relate to more than one activity?
- Does third party provided training arranged through a QA Provider (e.g. law firm) qualify for points on the basis of the QA Provider's status, or is an application under clause 10 necessary?
- What is anticipated to be the turn-around time for receiving responses to applications?
Can an application for approval under clause 10 relate to more than one activity?
No, each application under clause 10 needs to be made separately, although applications can be made concurrently.
Does third party provided training arranged through a QA Provider (e.g. law firm) qualify for points on the basis of the QA Provider's status, or is an application under clause 10 necessary?
An application under clause 10 will be necessary if a practitioner wishes to count attendance at a third party activity that is not actually provided by the QA Provider. Joint venture or partnering arrangements between QA and non-QA providers will not generally require additional applications. Additionally, the fact that a presenter of an activity is not an employee or member of the QA Provider does not mean that an activity is not provided by the QA Provider.
Likewise, the fact that a speaker at an activity comes from an otherwise QA Provider, will not of itself make the activity approved e.g., if a non QA Provider had a Judge deliver a paper, this would not serve automatically deem the activity approved by reason of clause 7(d).
An example: if a law firm was a QA Provider and contracted with a third party to design and run courses for its staff, provided there was control exercised by the firm over course objectives, content, presentation, location, attendees and so on, these courses would be part of the QA Provider status. If the law firm approved of and paid for its staff to enrol in third party provided activity,
e.g. an LLM, over which it exercised no control or had no responsibility, those providers would have to have their own QA Provider status for a practitioner to be able to rely on that attendance for CPD purposes.
What is anticipated to be the turn-around time for receiving responses to applications?
Clauses 6 (d) & (e) provide that the Board seeks to respond to applications within 14 days of a meeting of the Committee, provided that all the relevant information is received prior to the relevant meeting. Subject to business requirements, meetings will generally be held monthly, other than in January, in accordance with the Board's usual practice. Meetings will be held on dates advertised on the Board's web-site (see clause 6(c)).