My letter to the Scottish Government re Dundee University concerns

This is the text of the letter I sent to Cabinet Secretary Jenny Gilruth about the ongoing crisis at Dundee University

Dear Jenny,

Re: Concerns about UoD’s approach to redundancies and the recovery plan.

I am writing to you again about my concerns about the University of Dundee Management’s ongoing failure to engage with the campus trade unions and their approach to redundancies at the university. This is particularly pressing given the imminent publication of the Gillies report.

I understand that, of the reported £22 million allocated to University of Dundee, a £12 million loan is yet to be accepted by the University Court. This loan was associated with the University’s adherence to Fair Work principals and specifically the reduction of the number of planned redundancies from over 600 to a maximum of 300. The university community, and indeed the wider city, understood that these 300 job losses would be a result of the voluntary severance (VS) scheme currently underway. In addition to questions around finances, the original redundancy notice issued in March relating to 600 plus staff remains in place.

I have several questions and concerns about the situation:

· What is the status of the £12million loan?

· How can Fair Work principles be considered to have been upheld given that campus trade unions did not have sight of the details of the VS scheme before it was introduced?

· Why does the initial redundancy notice remain in place if there has been a shift to voluntary redundancies?

Since March, at least 80 staff have left the institution. Additionally, 13 staff at the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science and from the Educational Assistive Technology programme are currently exposed to redundancies. There are also 280 vacant posts.

The campus unions understand that UEG are looking to the VS scheme to reduce the University's FTE by 300 in addition to this. There is little confidence that further redundancies will take place before the end of the calendar year.

All of this suggests something very different from the 300 job loss figure that was shared publicly by the UEG in the spring.

Public money supports the teaching and research at the university. The university is required to fulfil certain obligations under both the Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Act 2016 and the Scottish Government’s Fair Work First agenda. Given this, I would urge the Scottish Government to challenge the poor behaviour by members of the UEG that staff, including trade union representatives, are experiencing.

This situation is urgent. The future of the university is again being put in jeopardy by mismanagement. The Scottish Government must demand answers.

Thank you, and I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Maggie Chapman MSP