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Human Resources (HR) Strategy: Notice

Earlier this year the HEFCE invited bids from universities for additional funding through the submission of Human Resources (HR) Strategies. This additional funding is available initially over three years, but it may continue beyond 2003-04 depending on the outcome of the monitoring and evaluation that the HEFCE will be undertaking in due course.

Strategies have to address key areas identified by the Funding Council - recruitment and retention, staff development, equal opportunity targets and equal pay, staffing reviews, performance reviews, and dealing with poor performance. Also, the HR Strategy must integrate with each institution's mission and strategic plan and contain targets that can be used to assess the effectiveness of the expenditure of the additional funding.

The deadline for the submission of strategies was 1 June 2001. Strategies could be submitted either as 'emerging', in which case funding for the first year only (2001-02) would be given, or 'full', which would secure funding for three years. As the deadline did not allow sufficient time for full consultation on the content, the Council and the General Board approved the submission of Cambridge's bid as an 'emerging' strategy in order to secure the funding for the first year. In drafting the submission, a variety of sources were drawn upon, including corporate strategies such as that on Learning and Teaching, what had been published about HR activity in the Annual Reports of the Council and the General Board, the responses to the invitations to comment on HR issues in the Reporter on 9 August and 11 October 2000, and the report on the Equality Audit. Having considered the submission, the HEFCE has since approved the release of the additional funding of £2,142,430 for 2001-02. To secure funding for the further two years (worth in total more than £7.5m) it will be necessary to submit a 'full' strategy by 1 June 2002.

The Council and the General Board have agreed that there should be wide consultation on the content of the HR Strategy, which may be found at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/personnel/policy/. Letters will be sent to Faculty Boards, Councils of the Schools, and other authorities inviting comments by the end of the Michaelmas Term. The purpose of this Notice is to invite, within the same time scale, comments from members of staff in all groups. Following the consultation exercise, during the course of the Lent Term the Council and the General Board hope to be able to submit a Report on the 'full' strategy to the Regent House for consideration. Comments should be sent to Mr Peter Deer, Director of Personnel, The Old Schools, Trinity Lane (e-mail pjd33@admin.cam.ac.uk).


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Cambridge University Reporter, 31 October 2001
Copyright © 2001 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.