This Act may be cited as the Vocational Awards Act 1979.

This Act shall come into force on the 1st day of April 1980.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

There is hereby established the Authority for Advanced Vocational Awards.

The Authority shall consist of—

When making appointments under subsection (2)(h) of this section, the Authority shall consider the interests of the particular groups and organisations in respect of which the Authority is established and shall select persons who are likely to contribute effectively to the functions of the Authority.

The Authority shall elect a Deputy Chairman from among its members, who shall hold office while he continues to be a member of the Authority.

The powers of the Authority shall not be affected by any vacancy in its membership.

The Authority shall be a body corporate with a perpetual succession and a common seal, and shall be capable of acquiring, holding, and disposing of real and personal property, of suing and being sued, and of doing and suffering all such other acts and things as bodies corporate may do and suffer.

The Authority is hereby declared to be a continuation of the Technicians Certification Authority of New Zealand established by section 3 of the Technicians Certification Act 1958.

The Authority may from time to time establish a Course Committee in respect of any specified occupational group to assist the Authority in prescribing courses and syllabuses appropriate to the needs of persons in that occupational group; and the Authority may from time to time abolish any such Course Committee.

Every Course Committee shall consist of—

A Deputy Chairman of each Course Committee shall be elected by the members of the Course Committee from among those of its members who have been appointed by the Authority under subsection (2)(f) of this section.

The powers of any Course Committee shall not be affected by any vacancy in its membership.

Every appointed member of the Authority shall hold office for a term of 3 years, but shall be eligible for reappointment from time to time.

Every member nominated to a Course Committee under any of the provisions of paragraphs (c) to (f) of section 4(2) of this Act shall hold office for a term of 3 years, but shall be eligible for renomination from time to time.

Unless he sooner vacates his office under section 6 of this Act, every member of the Authority or of any Course Committee shall continue in office until his successor comes into office.

The persons holding office as members of the Technicians Certification Authority of New Zealand immediately before the commencement of this Act shall go out of office upon its commencement but, if there is an equivalent office in the Authority, shall hold that office or, as the case may require, be eligible for appointment to that office.

Any member of the Authority or of a Course Committee may at any time resign his office by giving written notice to that effect to the Minister if the member was appointed by the Minister, and to the Authority in every other case.

Any such member may at any time be removed from office by the Minister for disability, bankruptcy, neglect of duty, or misconduct, proved to the satisfaction of the Minister.

If any such member dies or resigns, or is removed from office, the vacancy occurring shall be filled by an appointment made in the same manner as that of the person whose office has become vacant.

Every person who is appointed under this section shall be appointed for the remainder of the term for which his predecessor was appointed.

Meetings of the Authority and of each Course Committee shall be held at such times and places as the Authority or Course Committee may appoint.

The Chairman of the Authority or Course Committee, or any 4 members of either may at any time call a special meeting.

The quorum for any meeting of the Authority or any Course Committee shall consist of half the total number of the members of the Authority or Committee (irrespective of any extraordinary vacancies) where that number is even, and a majority of the members when that number is odd.

At any meeting of the Authority or any Course Committee the Chairman shall preside or, in his absence, the Deputy Chairman, and, in the absence of both the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman from any meeting of the Authority or any Course Committee, the members present shall appoint one of their number to preside at that meeting.

At any meeting of the Authority or any Course Committee the Chairman or other person presiding shall have a deliberative vote and, in the case of an equality of votes, shall also have a casting vote.

A resolution in writing signed or assented to by letter or telegram or telex by all members of the Authority or any Course Committee shall be as valid and effective as if it had been passed at any meeting of the Authority or that Course Committee duly called and constituted.

Subject to this Act, the Authority and every Course Committee may regulate its own procedure.

In the absence from any meeting of the Director-General of Education, that member may authorise any officer of his Department to attend the meeting in his stead as his deputy.

In the absence from any meeting of a member (being the Chairman of the Vocational Training Council or being the Chairman of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors’ Committee), that member may authorise some other appropriate person to attend the meeting in his stead as his deputy.

The Technical Institutes Association of New Zealand, in respect of each member of the Authority appointed on its nomination, and the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutes, in respect of the member of the Authority appointed on its nomination, may from time to time nominate a suitable person to act as a deputy for each such member when that member is unable to attend a meeting of the Authority; and the Minister shall appoint the person so nominated as such a deputy. The Authority shall, from time to time, appoint a person otherwise qualified for appointment, to be a deputy for a member of any Course Committee who is unable to attend a meeting; and every such deputy shall be appointed on the nomination of the organisation which nominated the original member for appointment.

Every person appointed as a deputy under this section shall, while acting as such, be deemed for all purposes to be a member of the Authority or, as the case may require, Course Committee.

The Authority may from time to time appoint advisory or technical committees of one or more persons or co-opt any person or persons as it thinks fit to advise the Authority on such matters relating to its functions and powers as are referred to them by the Authority.

Each advisory or technical committee may, in addition, furnish to the Authority a report or reports on any matter concerning the functions or powers of the Authority of which the committee, or any member or members of it, may have special knowledge or experience.

A person may be appointed to be a member of any committee appointed under this section whether or not he is a member of the Authority or any Course Committee.

Subject to the other provisions of this Act, and to any directions given by the Authority, each committee may regulate its own procedure.

The functions of the Authority shall be—

The Authority may expend any money, and shall have all the powers that are reasonably necessary or expedient to carry out its functions.

Without limiting the generality of subsection (2) of this section, the Authority may,—

The Authority may from time to time, by resolution, either generally or particularly, delegate to all or any of the Course Committees or other committees that are for the time being established under this Act all or any of its functions or powers except this power of delegation.

Subject to any general or special directions given or conditions imposed by the Authority, the Course Committee or other committee may perform and exercise any functions and powers delegated to it in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been conferred on it directly by this section and not by delegation.

Every Course Committee or other committee purporting to act pursuant to any delegation under this section shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation.

Every such delegation shall be revocable at will, and no such delegation shall prevent the performance or exercise of any function or power by the Authority.

Until such delegation is revoked, it shall continue in force according to its tenor, notwithstanding any change in the membership of the Authority or Course Committee or other committee.

Subject to section 13 of this Act, there shall be appointed as officers or employees of the Public Service such officers and employees as may be necessary for the efficient carrying out of the functions and powers of the Authority and of all Course Committees and other committees established under this Act; and any such office may be held concurrently with any other office.

The Authority shall pay to the Crown the reasonable cost (as determined by the State Services Commission) of any services performed by officers or employees of the Public Service for the purposes of this Act.

The Authority may appoint and employ a suitably qualified person to act as chief executive officer to the Authority.

The chief executive officer shall carry out such duties as may from time to time be assigned to him by the Authority, and shall be responsible for the supervision of officers and employees appointed pursuant to section 12 of this Act.

The Authority may, subject to any contract of service with the chief executive officer, at any time for reasonable cause, remove him from his employment.

The chief executive officer shall be employed on such terms and conditions of employment and shall be paid such salaries and allowances as the Authority from time to time determines in agreement with the State Services Commission, or as the Minister from time to time determines in any case where the Authority and the State Services Commission fail to agree.

Where a chief executive officer was not, immediately preceding his appointment, a contributor to the Government Superannuation Fund, the Authority may out of its funds subsidise or contribute to any scheme under the National Provident Fund Act 1950 containing provision for employer subsidy or any other employer-subsidised scheme approved by the Minister of Finance.

The Authority and each advisory or technical committee appointed by it, and each Course Committee, is hereby declared to be a statutory Board within the meaning of the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act 1951.

There shall be paid to the members of the Authority, and to the members of any committee appointed by it (not being members of the Authority) and to each Course Committee, remuneration by way of salary, fees, or allowances, and travelling allowances and expenses in accordance with the Fees and Travelling Allowances Act 1951, and the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly.

No member of the Authority or of any of its committees or any Course Committee shall be personally liable for any act done or default made in good faith by the Authority, or by any committee of the Authority or any Course Committee, or by any member, in the course of operations of the Authority or of any of those committees.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any Act or rule of law, every member of the Authority or of any Course Committee or any other committee appointed under this Act shall be eligible to be employed as an examiner, moderator, supervisor, or assessor in connection with any examination conducted by the Authority or any Course Committee, and to receive remuneration for that employment.

The Crown, acting through any department of State, may from time to time, at the request of the Authority, execute any work or enter into arrangements for the execution or provision by the department of any work or service, or for the supply to the Authority of any goods, pursuant to such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon.

All payments incurred in the administration of this Act shall be made out of money which the Authority receives in the exercise of its functions from fees and otherwise.

To the extent that the money so received is insufficient, all such payments shall be made out of money paid to the Authority from money from time to time appropriated by Parliament for the purpose.

For the purposes of this Act, the Authority shall continue to keep an account with the Bank of New Zealand, and to deposit therein all money received by it pursuant to this Act.

The Authority may from time to time open with the Bank of New Zealand or with any branch or agency of that Bank such imprest or subsidiary accounts as the Authority thinks necessary for the exercise of its functions and powers.

Every account under this section shall be operated upon only by cheque or other instrument (not being a bill or promissory note) signed by such person or persons as may from time to time, subject to any requirements of the Audit Office, be authorised by the Authority for the purpose.

The financial year of the Authority shall end with the 31st day of March.

The Authority shall keep full and correct accounts of all money received and expended by it.

The Authority shall, as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year, cause its accounts for that year to be balanced, and full and true statements and accounts of all money received and expended by it in that year and of its assets and liabilities at the end of that year, to be prepared and submitted to the Audit Office.

The Audit Office shall audit the accounts.

Every Course Committee shall, on or before the 1st day of April in every year, forward a report to the Authority on its activities for the period of 12 months ending with the last day of February immediately preceding.

As soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year, the Authority shall deliver to the Minister a general report of its proceedings and operations during the year together with a copy of its duly audited accounts for that year and the report of the Audit Office on those accounts.

The Authority may, in any financial year, expend out of its funds for purposes not authorised by this or any other Act any sum or sums not amounting in the whole to more than $500.

Subject to the terms of any trust or endowment, the Authority may invest any of its surplus money in any investment authorised as a trustee investment under the Trustee Act 1956.

The Authority may, with the consent of the Minister of Finance and upon and subject to such conditions as that Minister thinks fit, borrow money (whether on overdraft with its bankers or otherwise) and mortgage or charge any of its real or personal property.

For the purposes of the Inland Revenue Acts (as defined in section 2 of the Inland Revenue Department Act 1974), the Authority is hereby declared to have been established exclusively for charitable purposes in New Zealand.

The following enactments are hereby repealed:

The enactment repealed by subsection (1)(a) of this section shall be deemed to have originally come into force on the 26th day of September 1958.

All matters and proceedings that have been commenced by or under the direction or authority of the Technicians Certification Authority of New Zealand under any enactment repealed by subsection (1) of this section, and are pending or in progress as at the commencement of this Act, may be continued, completed, and enforced by or under the direction or authority of the Authority for Advanced Vocation Awards under this Act.