The end of DEL

Cutting the Department for Employment and Learning will slightly reduce the Executive’s size but the move is widely seen as a political carve-up. Peter Cheney assesses the decision.

The Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) has become the first department to be earmarked for closure since devolution began, with significant implications for how the Executive handles education and economic policy.

Formed in 1999, DEL has often been seen as the easiest target to cut. It was carved out of the Department of Education and Department of Economic Development, which then became the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI). Initially known as Department of Higher and Further Education, Training and Employment (‘defeat’ to its critics), it was renamed in 2001.

SDLP ministers saw this as a natural fit, as further and higher education should lead into work. The Independent Review of Economic Policy, in September 2009, called for the merger of DETI and DEL to focus political attention on the economy.

The demise of the Department for Employment and Learning was initially expected by 1 May, the deadline for re-electing the Justice Minister. However, the department’s large in-tray and the Executive’s delay in deciding the timing mean that the date could be pushed back to April 2013.

A source in the department told agendaNi that it was “quite frustrating” for staff as ministers had announced their intentions but not the timescale, which left civil servants with an uncertain future. The source also emphasised that DEL had important work to take forward in employment. It is understood that Stephen Farry will be bringing forward a review of employment law before it can be done by DETI or any other new economy department.

The two largest parties expect Alliance to accept one less Executive seat while David Ford stands again for a cross-community vote with a foregone conclusion.

Sinn Féin and the DUP immediately hailed the decision as “robust” and “leadership in the absence of consensus”. However, it is far from radical. DEL is only one of 12 departments and the last Executive had pledged to review all departments by 2011.

It was also the last choice under d’Hondt in both 2007 and 2011. Alliance, though, sees DEL’s work as a key priority area and Stephen Farry is viewed as a competent and informed Minister. He told agendaNi in November that his brief was “a huge opportunity” (issue 50, pages 8-10) and, after several years of delay, expected to have a full set of policies by May 2011.

In current expenditure terms, DEL suffered an initial 1.5 per cent cut for 2011-2012 (down by £11.6 million). On paper, this is due to rise by 3.5 per cent over 2011-2015 but most of that growth will be driven by annual increases in student loan payments to match new enrolments: up 21.3 per cent over the Budget period.

Consecutive cuts in higher education will reduce its current expenditure budget by 15.5 per cent. However, that money is being diverted to FE colleges, apprenticeships and job centres, and therefore will assist working class school leavers and the unemployed. After some initial cuts, those budgets will roughly return to 2010-2011 levels. Most capital funding will go to ongoing works and those already signed off in contracts.

Policy split

After the proposed abolition of DEL, the First and deputy First Ministers appeared indecisive on the next step. On

18 January, OFMDFM announced that “key stakeholders and interested parties” would be consulted on how the department’s functions should be shared out.

The two largest parties, holding the DETI and Department of Education portfolios, clearly stand to benefit most from the move, although the exact redistribution is yet to be decided. The unions, though, are wary of handing employment law to DETI, led by the conservative DUP. The best place for further and higher education is less clear.

Expanding Sinn Féin’s education remit would allow it to retain St Mary’s University College in West Belfast, as long as it can find funds for two teaching colleges in a decreasing HE budget. The party has a manifesto commitment to oppose all student fees, a goal only possible with major cuts elsewhere.

In the Republic, the Department of Education and Skills has a vast remit, ranging from nursery school pupils to university PhDs. Likewise, Scotland has an Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary and Wales has an Education and Skills Minister.

This is the teaching unions’ preferred model. Their spokesman, Seamus Searson, sought an end to the “nonsense” of two education departments and better co-ordination with the Education and Skills Authority. Searson claimed: “The carve-up which produced DEL has resulted in business-oriented models of delivery which have done nothing to improve the quality of delivery or the range of courses available across Northern Ireland or in delivering skills to increase economic activity.”

Alternatively, the Westminster model is the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, set up in June 2009. This covers higher education and general economic policy, with a Minister of State working between it and Michael Gove’s Department for Education.

This is the CBI’s preference. “There should be no salami-slicing,” said Chairman Ian Coulter. “The key DEL functions, including further and higher education, should be merged with DETI. It is vital that we have the right skills to underpin the Economic Strategy.”

Reg Empey, the only Minister to run both departments, agrees and points to “huge cultural differences” between economic development and education departments. However, he also senses a gap between departments with large budgets and workforces (e.g. DEL) and those which mostly regulate and make policy (e.g. DETI).

Once the Executive has made its decision, the Assembly can transfer parts of the department by amending the Departments (Transfer and Assignment of Functions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1999, a piece of secondary legislation. Seven amendments have been made to date, the most significant being Ordnance Survey’s transfer from DCAL to DFP in April 2008, as part of the Land and Property Services Agency’s formation. ‘Transfer of functions’ orders must be jointly signed off by the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

Party positions

Alliance was angered, to say the least, as it achieved the ministry with 50,875 first preferences (and with the help of David McClarty’s resignation from the UUP). David Ford criticised the “grossly anti-democratic” move and called for “a realistic, properly-thought out reduction to eight departments.”

Reducing Alliance’s political influence fits in with the DUP’s strategy to regain East Belfast and become the main party for moderate Protestant voters. This partly explains Robinson’s support for shared education and the hardline DUP stances on Europe, law and order, and British symbols, where its rivals are more liberal.

Alliance’s policy will be determined at a party council meeting in March. The trump card of refusing to nominate David Ford as Justice Minister would be unpopular, destabilising and counter-productive for a party which sees its future in government.

Instead, the party has sought more job security for Ford, who could effectively be removed by the DUP and Sinn Féin at any time. All other ministers serve at the pleasure of their party leader.

Robinson and McGuinness therefore pledged to support Ford’s ministry until the next Assembly election (either in 2015 or 2016). They also promised to immediately ask the Secretary of State for legislation on a secure tenure for the Justice Minister.

Alliance accepted that commitment but questioned why DEL should still be abolished before a comprehensive review of departments. The UUP’s priority is to end the “inherent flaw” of two Alliance ministers, although there is nothing more for it to gain in government.

The Executive only consulted its member parties and ignored the TUV and Green Party; both saw the decision as politically expedient rather than an example of good governance (as did the SDLP). The Greens have called for DEL to merge with the Department of Education.

Salary costs take up most departmental budgets and DEL had 2,111 staff in September 2011, largely in job centres and similar areas of work. If the Executive had started to cut the departments with the smallest staffs, it would have abolished DCAL (269), OFMDFM (380) and indeed DETI (582).