Although there is no direct role for the Government to intervene in the dispute, I have made it clear to the college management that they must do everything in their power to ensure that students are not adversely impacted by industrial action, while at the same time doing their best to conclude the dispute.

All appropriate mitigations and support must be in place to minimise disruption to students and provide them with timely information on their options. I have also called on the employers and EIS-FELA to work together to find a way of suspending the marking boycott in order to allow positive progress to be made on settling the dispute and to ensure that students receive the qualifications that they have worked so hard to achieve.