Commentary on Sections Further education and training Section 98: Financial support for further education or training: further provision
317.If they provide financial support directly to learners under section 97(1)(d) or (e), the Welsh Ministers and the Commission can do so by reference to fees or charges payable by those learners, or by reference to other matters connected with the provision of that further education or training (such as transport or childcare costs).
318.The Welsh Ministers may make regulations requiring providers to be registered in a specified category on the register established under section 25 in order to be eligible for funding under section 97(1)(a) or (b) (provision or proposed provision of further education or training).
319.Those regulations may make exceptions for certain courses or courses of a certain description. The regulations could, for example, describe a course by referring to requirements to be met by it or to the person providing it, or to the qualification to which the course leads.
320.These arrangements would permit gaps in provision for particular subjects or locations to be addressed which may arise due to a lack of registered providers able to fulfil an identified need, for example a need for a specialist course to be delivered in Wales or to be undertaken by small numbers of students ordinarily resident in Wales, which may not be cost effective for registered providers to deliver.