Mr. Andy Pike:

On Senator Conway's point, this is not the first time abuse of the 72 hours has been raised at this committee. A lot of research evidence is available. We will happily provide the same.

On job security, precarious employment is simply because each year the NCSC, in previous incarnations, assessed the level of SNAs needed in a school. During the period of austerity between 2010 and 2015, the NCSC, on a regular basis, reduced the number of jobs available. It was an employment model that allowed the Department of education to dispense with SNAs, if it got a signal from the NCSC that they were not needed after 12 months. That is why the precarious employment model was there. We think it is high time we move to a service-based approach, with an assessment of how many SNAs will be needed on a permanent basis in each school, rather than year-on-year assessments that could result in redundancy or redeployment.