Draft DEL budget

An overview of the budget plans for 2011-2015.

Higher education will bear the brunt of the Department for Employment and Learning’s cuts: £68 million out of £144 million. The department says the sector should take on the burden, as it has received high levels of funding over the last five years. Student fees “will need to increase if capacity and service quality in [the higher education] sector is to be maintained,” its draft spending plan suggests.

As a starting point, the 2010-2011 current expenditure totalled £800 million, divided up as follows:

• £381.9 million for employment and skills (48 per cent);
• £230 million for higher education (29 per cent);
• £153.8 million for student support and postgraduate awards (19 per cent);
• £33.2 million for labour market services e.g. the Labour Relations Agency (4 per cent).

On paper, that budget initially drops, before increasing to £813.8 million. However, this also includes a ringfenced pot provided under the Barnett formula, which would grow to £36.4 million by 2015. The Executive can use that money to subsidise some student loans, if it chooses to increase tuition fees, but must return all unused money to the Treasury.

When that is factored in, current expenditure drops to between £762 million and £777 million, depending on the financial year. Inflation will, of course, mean that this money will not go as far as before.

DEL’s funds are under increasing pressure from longer dole queues, welfare reform, more demand for student support, and cuts in innovation and research funding.

Overall, this reduction is “impacting at a time when [its] services are needed most” and Northern Ireland will “struggle to deliver parity” with the rest of the UK.

The department says it needs £855 million to deal with these pressures in 2011- 2012, rising to £918 million in 2014-2015. If funding stayed at current levels, the shortfall would reach £141 million; DEL plans to reduce spending by £144 million to fill that gap.

In addition to the higher education cuts, pay and price restraint would save £46 million; this includes the Civil Service pay freeze. Further education and the employment service face the lowest cuts (£4 million each), as their work deals directly with unemployment.

Even if all these savings are carried through, DEL will still have a £40 million deficit next year, decreasing to £31 million in 2012-2013.

Help for getting people back to work “will be spread more thinly over increasing numbers of unemployed people.” Support would be restricted to benefit claimants, which would mean turning away people who come forward voluntarily.

Capital spending will be used to complete the PFI projects at Belfast Metropolitan College and South Eastern Regional College, the ongoing works at Belfast Met’s Springvale campus, and unspecified teaching and research infrastructure projects at the two universities.

Answering Assembly questions on 17 January, Danny Kennedy said that he may have to withdraw funding for adult apprenticeships, and “better target” educational maintenance allowance (EMA). This will been abolished in England when this academic year ends. Student unions are calling for its retention in Northern Ireland.

Concluding, he called on critics to bring forward their alternatives: “Please do not bring me problems, bring me solutions.”

Draft DEL spending plan 2011-2015 (£ mIllion)

Northern Ireland Budget 2008 – 2011 (£ million)