To ask the Minister of Education for an update on his engagement with teaching unions in relation to planned industrial action over pay.

Mr Givan

With your permission, Mr Speaker, I will answer questions 4 and 8 together. Through the Teachers' Negotiating Committee (TNC), a joint pay group is operational, and meetings are taking place with employers, sectoral support bodies and the recognised teaching trade unions — represented by the Northern Ireland Teachers' Council (NITC) — to explain to and update them on the current financial pressures in education and discuss the current pay claim from the NITC. The claim was substantially higher than what has been recommended by the United Kingdom Government and accepted by teachers in England. In line with the requirements of public-sector pay policy, any proposals for a teachers' pay award must be affordable, and that is proving difficult to resolve, given the pressures that already face the Education budget. Four of the five unions on the NITC balloted for industrial action and action short of strike action, and that was due to commence on Monday 13 January. I provided confirmation that I am committed to securing the funding that is required to make a formal pay offer in the context of the agreement reached in the summer of last year in England and Wales and on the understanding that we secure agreement on a sustained period of stability, free from industrial action, including action short of strike, in our schools. As a result of that, the four trade unions agreed to suspend their industrial action for four weeks to allow further discussion aimed at finalising the ongoing pay negotiations. The workload agreement, TNC 2024/2, is effective in providing clarification, advice and guidance on teachers' terms and conditions to boards of governors, principals and teachers. Management side and the NITC have jointly designed a framework to address the recommendations contained in the eight completed workforce reviews.

Mrs Dillon

I thank the Minister for his answer. Minister, as you will be well aware, the pay issue goes much wider than just our teachers. Our classroom assistants are very frustrated by their pay increase. Have you met classroom assistants and engaged with them directly? They are among the lowest-paid workers across society, yet they do vital work by supporting our young children, including our most vulnerable children.

Mr Givan

I agree with the Member on the hugely important contribution that our teaching staff and support staff make. That is why, when the institutions were restored, the Executive prioritised them. The Finance Minister made funding available, and I worked with the unions to negotiate a pay settlement that resolved a three-year dispute. We increased the starting salary for new teachers from £23,000 to £30,000. We increased teachers' pay by double digits, and a backdated payment was made for that. We also resolved the industrial dispute by support staff through the pay and grading review, and that has resulted in significant pay increases for all support staff. We are now trying to resolve the issue for the current financial year. I am engaging in good faith to get a resolution. My team is meeting the unions right now, and diaries have been cleared to allow negotiations to continue tomorrow and Thursday. We have an opportunity over the next number of weeks to bring those negotiations to a conclusion. I have outlined the parameters within which we need to reach agreement, and I have been working incredibly hard to try to identify the funding that we need in order for a formal pay offer to be made. I will continue to do that. I absolutely accept that support staff require support. I met the Member's party colleague the Member for Foyle, who did some work on the role of classroom assistants and provided me with a report. That was very helpful and demonstrated their value, which I already knew. During that meeting, he provided evidence that was helpful to me. I know that it is a shared aim of all of us in the House to support teachers and the wider support staff, and I know that the Executive want to do that.

Mr Givan

I thank the Member for that question. Three of the four unions balloted purely on the pay issue, but one union included issues to do with workload. My original response highlighted issues to do with workload, including commitments that were made and work streams that we have been taking forward. A timetable for the implementation of the areas that can be progressed, immediately and over the short to medium term, has been agreed with the trade unions. The focus of both management side and the NITC is to determine the areas of work that, once revised and implemented, will have the potential to impact positively on working practices in the education sector. A programme of work has been prepared, grouping the recommendations that are in progress and those that can be progressed with existing resources into themes, one of which relates to school leaders. I will continue to do all that I can to progress those measures and to secure the funding and resources that are needed to provide a pay settlement. I will work with the unions to get a resolution over the next number of weeks.

Mr Kingston

Can the Minister advise whether teachers' terms and conditions in England are the same as those in Northern Ireland?

Mr Givan

We are incredibly fortunate in this country: teaching is a valued profession here and we have high levels of application to all our initial teacher training colleges. As an Executive, we want to attract the brightest and best to the profession. I and the Executive support that position. Northern Ireland negotiates terms and conditions through the management side, which is made up of employers such as the Education Authority, the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) and others. We negotiate those terms and conditions for Northern Ireland. When a pay settlement is reached in England, the terms and conditions for teachers there are not the same as those in Northern Ireland. For example, in Northern Ireland, there is a legal right to automatic pay progression, so teachers here automatically move up their scales. In England, pay progression is subject to an annual performance review by the employer, so a teacher may not move up. It is important that we recognise that there is a different context in Northern Ireland. The exceptions to the directed working time budgets are tighter in England. There is greater flexibility in Northern Ireland. When looking at pay, it is not as simple as saying, "We demand pay parity with England", because the terms and conditions are not like for like. We need to find solutions to such issues that recognise the legal framework in Northern Ireland.

Mr Crawford

I appreciate the Minister's work on the issue. Is there a long-term strategy to ensure competitive pay for teachers in Northern Ireland? How often will teachers' salaries be reviewed?

Mr Givan

I thank the Member for that question. Every year, we seek to review and reach a settlement on pay. A short time after the Executive's restoration, teachers' pay increased by over 10%. That was backdated. We resolved the industrial action by our support staff and delivered a significant increase in their pay. We review pay every year. I want that to happen sooner, but we have not been in a position to move forward, because the Department of Education has not had the funding to do so. I have had to work to identify what funding there could be. That will require difficult decisions for me, as a Minister, and I have no doubt that Members will criticise me for the decisions that I will need to take, but we are prioritising teachers' pay. That will have implications for the next financial year, because there will be a cumulative impact. That is why I unashamedly make the case for additional resource for the Department of Education. We want to attract people into the profession. It is a deeply valued profession. People often go into it because it is vocational, and we should never take that for granted. We should always pay them the appropriate salary to reflect their contribution to our children and young people, who, ultimately, are the future. We have workforce strategies in place. We are struggling to recruit people to teach particular subjects at post-primary level. That requires us to look at those issues, but I want to make sure that we pay our workforce the right rate to reflect the important work that they do. I will continue to seek to do that in the years ahead.

Ms Hunter

Minister, many Irish-medium schools have voiced their frustration that teachers make more money in the South of Ireland. Therefore, we lose a lot of our Irish-speaking teachers to the South. Will a pay award that increases salaries be enough to keep teachers in the North? What further steps will your Department take?

Mr Givan

I am not aware of salary being an issue in attracting people to Irish-medium schools. There is an issue with how we make sure that people who are qualified and proficient in the Irish language are able to deliver education through that medium. The Department recognises that that is a particular issue for Irish-medium schools, and work is being done to make sure that we provide support. For example, the reductions in the number of placements in our teacher training colleges did not apply to the Irish-medium sector. That recognised the needs of the sector and the legal duties on the Department in that respect. I recognise that that is an issue for Irish-medium. It is an issue for some other subjects at post-primary level when it comes to attracting staff. We need to make sure that terms and conditions are attractive and that teachers can be supported in the working environment, which we can do through a number of measures. As I reform the education system, we will look at curriculum and ways in which we carry out assessment. Key to that will be teachers' professional development and empowering our teachers who want to be provided with that support to carry out their job. I am determined that we seek to do that.