§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the number of staff engaged in research full-time in institutions of higher education, excluding medical schools, who hold (a) tenured posts and (b) untenured posts; and in the case of those who hold untenured posts, how many are excluded by their conditions of employment from their right to redundancy pay, or to challenge unfair dismissal.
§ Mr. BrookeThe information available relates to all full-time university staff in the United Kingdom engaged in research only. In the academic year 1983–84, there were 10,720 such staff, of whom 982 were wholly university financed. Information is not collected centrally about numbers of tenured and non-tenured posts, nor about the terms of employment of research staff. These matters are for universities themselves, where they are the employers. Comparable information about higher education institutions outside the universities is not available.
§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what information he has as to the number of non-medically qualified staff employed full-time in medical research in the different medical schools throughout the United Kingdom; and what information he has as to (a) how many permanent posts are available in the medical schools for such researchers, (b) how many such researchers are employed on a short-term contract basis, (c) how many medical schools in the United Kingdom include in the conditions of employment in all short-term contracts for such researchers the obligatory waiving of statutory rights to redundancy, unfair dismissal, and so on.
§ Mr. BrookeIn the academic year 1983–84, 4,898 full-time non-medically qualified academic staff were employed in United Kingdom medical schools, of which 2,153 were wholly university financed. Information is not available centrally to identify those involved in medical research only, nor the number of permanent posts available for them. The granting of short-term contracts and conditions of service are matters for universities themselves where they are the employers.
§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what information he has as to the number of staff engaged in (a) scientific and (b) medical research in institutions of higher education, 358W including medical schools, who are supported by research councils; and of these how many are on short-term contracts (i) of five years and (ii) of three years or less;
(2) what information he has as to the number of contract research staff supported on short-term grants by research councils or charitable funding in institutions of higher education, including medical schools, who are engaged in (a) scientific and (b) medical research and who are under 30 years old, between 30 and 35 and over 35; what proportion of each of these categories are women; and how these figures compare with (a) 10 years ago and (b) five years ago.
§ Mr. BrookeThe research councils award research grants to higher education institutions rather than directly engaging staff required for those grants themselves. I understand from the councils that the numbers of contract research staff currently supported by them on short term grants in higher education institutions are as follows:
Numbers AFRC 300 MRC 3,044 NERC 604 SERC 4,557 The above figures include scientific and supporting staff.
There are no central records of the age, sex or length of contract of such staff. Comparative figures for 10 and five years ago are not available; nor is any information about the number of contract staff supported by charitable funding.