HC Deb 06 February 1989 vol 146 c459W
Mr. Steel

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations he has recieved from the Association of University Teachers regarding pay increases; and what action he intends to take.

Mrs. Rumbold

My right hon. Friend exchanged correspondence with the Association of University Teachers in August last year, and there has been informal contact since. My right hon. Friend is considering a letter from the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals and the Association of University Teachers about the pay of academic staff and technicians in the universities.

Mr. Steel

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what plans he has to alter present Treasury practice which prevents selected university staff in part-time employment who have in the course of the last three years taken a privately funded early retirement scheme from qualifying for reimbursement and redundancy costs if the period of part-time employment exceeds three or four years.

Mr. Jackson

Public funds are provided to meet universities' expenditure on premature retirement compensation where staff retire fully, but the Government do not consider this appropriate where the change is simply from full-time to part-time employment. The rules of the scheme operated by the University Grants Committee have now been appropriately clarified. Contrary to some institutions' fears, this clarification does not have retrospective effect.