Just to follow up, we are still working with Moodle HQ on the best way to fix this so it didn't make it into the 1.1.9 release. You can view discussions on the bug here:
http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-31248
Simon
Totara Talent Experience Platform Release Notes
Totara 1.0.30 and 1.1.8 Released 11th January 2012 (security release)
Re: Totara 1.0.30 and 1.1.8 Released 11th January 2012 (security release)