Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 March 2022
59. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he is engaged in discussions to agree revised principles for a new higher education staffing agreement to update the current employment control framework; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11405/22]
View answerI thank the Minister of State for thinking about County Mayo.
I will send her the details.
I thank him for his positive action. That is what I like.
Is the Minister engaged in discussions to agree revised principles for a new higher education staffing agreement to update the employment control framework? I have raised this issue a number of times since the Government was formed. The sector and its workforce have struggled under the employment control framework since 2010. It is still in place since Fianna Fáil was previously in government. Will he provide an update on the new higher education agreement that will replace it?
I thank the Deputy for her question. As she will be aware, and as set out in my previous responses on this matter, officials from my Department engage on an ongoing basis with their counterparts in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on multiple policy issues, which include the consideration of principles for a higher education staffing agreement. The purpose of such an agreement, once finalised, will be to update the existing employment control framework approach that has been in place since 2011 and still is in place in a number of sectors in the public service.
The employment control framework for the higher education sector is updated on an annual basis, having regard to the funding decisions made as part of the annual Estimates process, and is then put into operation by the Higher Education Authority, HEA, across all higher education institutions. Overall staffing in the sector, both core and non-core, has increased by approximately 4,500, or 18%, since 2016. While the operation and management of the existing employment control framework approach is a matter for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, the HEA and the individual higher education institutions, a key issue from my Department's perspective is to ensure it appropriately reflects fiscal, expenditure and public service staffing and pay policies. Regarding the overarching principles for a new approach, my Department is seeking to ensure staffing decisions taken in the higher education sector are affordable and sustainable both from a higher education perspective and from an Exchequer and wider public service staffing and pensions perspective.
My Department is also mindful of the need to ensure that there is appropriate flexibility built in to any revised approach so that higher education institutions can operate efficiently in making their staffing decisions, having regard to their overall expenditure allocations and other appropriate controls.
I understand the role of the Department is to ensure that it is sustainable from a fiscal and expenditure perspective but that is the heart of the issue and it is why the employment framework was introduced in the first place. I welcome the establishment of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and I, like many working in the sector, took that as a signal that the Government was finally ready to take higher education out of austerity mode. That is over two years ago and 12 years since the austerity measure of the employment control framework was established. This essentially limits the ability of colleges to hire permanent staff. I have been repeatedly assured by the Minister, Deputy Harris, that the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is in regular engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. How far along are we in the process, what are the blockages and when can workers in the sector expect progress? I take on board what the Minister is saying about the additional staff but if they are on precarious hours and not on proper contracts then that makes a mockery of it.
It is important to say that we are seeing a significant expansion of the number of people working in the higher education sector. The control framework the Deputy referred to is updated annually following the Estimates process. The key driver is what annual budget is agreed for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, which then makes its way down to the higher education institutes. A 4,500 headcount increase, or 18% in six years, is significant. Since 2015 the annual expenditure allocated to higher education has increased by more than 40% and this year the allocation will be approximately €2.4 billion, which is the highest it has ever been, higher even than the previous peak funding levels in 2008. It is a substantial increase from the low point of planned expenditure in 2015 and the Deputy will be aware of many of the highlights within that, including €420 million being allocated to student supports such as SUSI grants. We have agreed the NDP, with significant annual increases for the Department to roll out the capital programme across the higher education institutes.
The Minister will understand that the funding per student is down 37% on what it was in 2008. Most early career academics and researchers now go from one precarious contract to another. Some 16% of researchers in the technological sector are on permanent contracts but only 5% of researchers in universities are on full-time contracts. It is important to remember that many of these researchers had to complete year upon year of study, many as PhD researchers, where they are paid less than the minimum wage in the form of a stipend and have no workers' rights. The researchers are often in their 30s and 40s and unable to get a mortgage due to the precarity of their work. The precarious nature of their work has forced them to put many life decisions on hold. I speak to academics with permanent contracts and to those without and they all say the same thing. Damage has been done to the profession and this needs to be treated as a matter of urgency.
By setting up this new Department the Government has underlined the importance it attaches to the research sector. Having a full Cabinet Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is making a difference and that can be seen in the record allocations of funding that have been made. In recent years, through Covid, we have seen a major expansion in the number of places that have been funded in third level and further education. We are seeing an increase in the number of staff in the sector. We have to make sure we have adequate core funding for this sector into the future, that we address access issues and that it is affordable for young people and people going through adult and further education opportunities to avail of those. Cost must not be a barrier to that. Those are the core priorities of Government in that regard.
