UCU pressures Skidmore to keep staff data requirement

The University and College Union has urged the government to keep collecting data on non-academic staff after the Higher Education Statistics Agency suggested it could stop being a compulsory submission.

In a letter to universities and science minister Chris Skidmore, acting general secretary for the UCU Paul Cottrell said the union was “deeply concerned” about a proposal to drop data on non-academic staff from institutions’ compulsory submissions to Hesa, which he said would make universities less transparent.

Hesa is consulting on proposed changes to the data it collects, which includes letting institutions submit data on non-academic staff on a voluntarily basis, although data on academic staff would still be required. At the moment universities are required to submit data for both academic and non-academic staff.