Official Report 1027KB pdf
University of Dundee (Reduction in Staffing)
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on what engagement it has had with the University of Dundee regarding its financial recovery plan and proposed reduction in staffing.
From the outset, I want to put on record that my thoughts and those of this Government are with the University of Dundee staff and their families and, of course, with students, who will be understandably upset and anxious about the scale of the cuts that were proposed yesterday.
The cabinet secretary and I wrote to the interim principal of Dundee yesterday to outline our deep concern at the extent of the measures that are currently being proposed by the senior management team. We stressed the importance of making every effort to minimise the impact on jobs and that compulsory redundancies should be considered only as a last resort after all other cost-saving measures have been fully exhausted.
We have assured the university that it will continue to have the full support of the Government to return itself to a sustainable footing, and I want to reassure Parliament that we will continue to explore all means possible to support the university.
The University of Dundee is internationally renowned for its research and teaching. This afternoon, I met union representatives there and heard that staff are understandably deeply concerned about their jobs and the reputation of the university. Does the minister agree that the current proposal from senior management at the university and the scale of job losses being suggested are simply not acceptable? Does he agree that senior management must urgently get around the table with unions and the workforce to produce a recovery plan that explores every possible option to save jobs?
Although, unfortunately, job losses will be unavoidable, given the scale of the issue at the university, it is essential that everything is done to manage down the number that is being talked about. We are actively encouraging the university to work with trade unions, senior leaders across the city region and the sector to explore all possible measures to mitigate impacts on students, staff and, of course, the university’s world-class research base.
Further, there is a wealth of expertise in the sector and among those who have retired from the sector who might be keen to support Dundee. Ministers have asked Universities Scotland to work with the university in that regard.
Additionally, if, having scrutinised the draft financial recovery plan, the SFC believes that it is necessary for further financial support to be provided to the institution, or if the university has a specific ask in that regard, ministers will consider that.
I thank the minister for his response and his efforts.
The hostile environment on immigration, which is badly damaging international student recruitment, compounded by the United Kingdom’s national insurance hike that is costing the University of Dundee an extra £2.3 million this year, are factors that affect universities across the UK, but there remains little transparency about how the university got into this position, so it is little wonder that staff have a lack of confidence in the senior management’s ability to come up with a credible recovery proposal.
What further support can be offered to the university to bring in the required expertise without resorting to the employment of another senior manager at an eye-watering cost of £200,000? How can the minister ensure transparency?
It is welcome and necessary that the University of Dundee is committed to an external investigation into what went wrong, and I am keen to see that work progressed. Shaping and implementing a recovery plan that minimises job losses while returning the institution to financial stability is, of course, the immediate imperative, but the initial work that was done on identifying how the university got into this situation has left many questions unanswered, and we need to address those in parallel with that.
Full transparency is needed, not only for those directly affected but with a view to understanding whether different approaches to governance and oversight might have prevented the situation from unfolding as it has. Transparency must be in play around how some of the proposed cost-cutting measures have been arrived at, so that alternative measures might be properly explored.
On the point about accessing the required expertise without incurring additional costs, as I noted a moment ago, we are engaging with Universities Scotland to see what help might be available to the institution.
The loss of so many jobs is a horrendous blow to higher education in Scotland and to Tayside in particular. In order to help to prevent an exodus of skills and to support the local economy, will the minister consider working with colleagues to create an innovation hub that is focused on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence?
In short, yes, because we are in a situation in which we should be open to collaborating as far as possible to explore all the options that might be available. I am certainly willing to explore that with Mr Golden.
Yesterday made clear to all those who did not already know that the University of Dundee requires a Government response equivalent to an industrial bailout. The lack of urgency from and visibility of the Government is clear.
I have a specific ask, and I know that the university will welcome it. Will the Scottish Government increase the £15 million loan that was previously committed to with a further £30 million loan across 15 to 20 years, and will it underwrite a £30 million credit facility to allow the university to obtain bank finance, via the SFC or otherwise? That would allow the university to open a voluntary severance scheme far sooner and at long last stop the bleeding that threatens the existence of my city’s most important institution. [Interruption.] Thank you, First Minister.
As I said a moment ago to Maurice Golden, we are willing to explore all matters and engage with the University of Dundee on them. If it has a reasonable ask, we will explore that.
I gently say to Michael Marra that, just as we will commit to that, I hope that he and his party will acknowledge their part in the challenges that the University of Dundee faces—accepting that the university faces a number of issues that are way beyond any that other universities are facing. The employer national insurance contributions issue has compounded the situation at the University of Dundee, as have the spiralling costs of energy. Like every university, the unwillingness of the current UK Government to revisit the issue—
It has nothing to do with it.
It has everything to do with it, Mr Marra. I say again gently that you cannot credibly sit and demand more money for the University of Dundee if you, Mr Marra, and your party—
Through the chair, please.
I apologise, Presiding Officer. Given that the Labour Party refused to back the moneys that were contained in the budget, it cannot be credible in that space.
There is a great deal of interest in this issue, and I am keen to get all members in. If they can be concise, that would be helpful.
I begin by expressing my solidarity with and concern for the welfare of staff and students at the University of Dundee. This is bigger than Timex and NCR. These are the biggest cuts that the city has faced in more than 30 years. Trade unions have been asking—begging—for proper engagement for four months now. They want to know how they can help, but they still have not seen the books or received answers to their questions.
Does the minister agree that, rather than spending £200,000 on a hatchet man to come in and cut those jobs, that money would be much better spent on bringing staff and students round the table in a participative and engaging process to provide the help that the interim principal says he needs to get through the recovery plan process?
I recognise entirely the point that Maggie Chapman makes and that Joe FitzPatrick made about the £200,000 transformation director approach that has been mooted. As I said a moment ago, we are looking for Universities Scotland to work with us to provide the kind of expertise that might be available and helpful to the university.
Maggie Chapman is absolutely right: of course there must be an opportunity for the trade unions and staff to sit down. My understanding is that, beyond the briefing, further insight was provided to staff late yesterday that gave some more detail on the financial recovery plan. However, there must be an opportunity for them to bring forward viable alternative cost-cutting proposals that can save those jobs, or at least some of those jobs.
There is a degree of frustration and despondency with the threatened job losses in the wider Dundee area, which includes my constituency. There is a frustration that the Government is not ready with an additional offer. I know that the Government has provided £15 million in financial transactions to the wider sector, but we must surely be able to act more swiftly than this. People are worried about their future. When will the minister be able to come forward with a boosted offer to provide some certainty and stability for the institution?
As I think that Mr Rennie heard at the Education, Children and Young People Committee this morning from the cabinet secretary, the SFC is actively scrutinising the plan, with a view to come back—hopefully by the start of next week—with further advice to ministers. We await that advice.
As I said a moment ago, we are perfectly willing to consider any asks in this space. However, as matters stand, there has been no ask from the University of Dundee for any specific additional support beyond what the SFC will be looking to provide at its board meeting tomorrow.
The Leverhulme research centre for forensic science at the University of Dundee works with justice partners to provide a range of forensic services in Scotland, with work on-going to establish a national drug-checking service and an institute for innovation in forensic science for Scotland as part of the Tay cities region deal. I understand that staff, both externally grant funded and fully tenure-funded by the Scottish Funding Council, are at risk of redundancy, which would be a significant blow to the future provision of forensic services in Scotland.
I welcome the minister’s response so far, but can he provide any further reassurance specifically on the future of the centre, given its importance to the delivery of justice in Scotland and its potentially critical role—through drug testing—in the efforts to reduce drug deaths?
The Leverhulme centre is externally funded through to next year, so it is in a slightly different position, although I accept that its staff are the subject of consultation. However, among the things that the SFC will be considering as it goes through the proposed financial recovery plan are any consequences that will come from what is being proposed and any serious impacts that will be felt way beyond the confines of the university.
This cannot be a recovery predicated coldly and purely on saving money regardless of the implications for staff, students and wider stakeholders. However, major savings will have to be made by the institution—we cannot get away from that. The SFC will be interrogating the proposed plan closely, and staff need to be given a chance to input ideas that might mitigate the nature and scale of the impact.
This morning, I joined University and College Union members, local Labour councillors and members of our community on the picket line at the University of Dundee, where workers are still reeling from the announcement that 632 posts are on the line. This outrageous decision will undermine the future of the university and it will hit workers, students and the whole of Dundee. Will the Scottish Government meet with campus unions to discuss how it can support them to appoint forensic accountants to examine any financial mismanagement at the University of Dundee?
There is a genuinely external piece of work to be done to scrutinise what has happened at the University of Dundee. I take the point about the unions having the right and the need to be satisfied about the explanation that is provided. There is a great deal of work to be done at the institution to rebuild trust—if that is possible—between management and the trade unions. That starts with far better engagement than we have had up until now.
If the proposals go forwards, they will result in 20 per cent of the university staff losing their jobs. These concerns became apparent last November. Does the Government intend to be directly involved in the development of a recovery plan? Specifically, in relation to the £15 million that the Government has made available, are ministers looking to offer bridging loans for other organisations? We are seeing university after university come forward with financial difficulties. The Government will need to respond to that.
I think that Mr Briggs is aware that, for legitimate reasons—not the least of which is the preservation of Office for National Statistics classification, on which all institutions depend—there must be degrees of separation between Government and universities, because universities are autonomous institutions. Everything that will be done will be done through the SFC; that is the conduit for this.
In the context of further support for the University of Dundee, as I have said multiple times in the past few minutes, we are open to considering any approaches that come from the SFC, either directly on behalf of the University of Dundee or through its reading of the financial recovery plan and the situation there. As I indicated to Willie Rennie a moment ago, we expect to get further advice on that early next week.
I, too, express my solidarity with the communities of Dundee and the staff at the university, who will face significant heartache after yesterday’s news.
The minister has said multiple times this afternoon that he will consider anything that comes forward, and that he will look to the SFC and the institution to see what they will do. What exactly is the Government going to do?
The Government has already provided the SFC with £15 million to help universities such as the University of Dundee. I again point out that the Labour Party failed to support that move.
That concludes the urgent question.
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