Reporter 8/5/03: Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on an amendment to Statute D, I to establish part-time offices: Notice

Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on an amendment to Statute D, I to establish part-time offices: Notice

5 May 2003

The Council have considered the remarks made at the Discussion of this Report on 11 March 2003 (Reporter, p. 741). They have consulted the General Board and have agreed to comment as follows.

Professor G. R. Evans's remarks carry the implication that the enabling amendment to Statute D, I may lead the General Board to create part-time offices in a way that will affect the prospects and morale of individuals who undertake a significant undergraduate supervision load and of College officers on short-term contracts who may wish to opt for an established University post in due course. As acknowledged by Professor A. W. F. Edwards in his remarks, the purpose of the proposed change to Statute D, I is to enable the University to comply with changes in national legislation. It is certainly not intended to reduce the opportunities for University and College academic members of staff who are on fixed-term contracts and who may be looking for permanent employment in the University.

The duties of part-time employees will be assigned on a pro rata basis as the duties of part-time employees must not compare less favourably with full-time members of staff in similar offices and posts. Such comparison of treatment will also apply to promotion and regrading arrangements, and other arrangements concerning the recruitment, reward, and retention of University staff. With regard to the flexible working proposals to which Professor Evans draws attention, guidance - as the Report clearly states - will be circulated to University institutions in due course once the policy has been revised.

In response to remarks made by Professor Edwards the Council and the General Board confirm that his assumption that 'office' means 'University office' is correct. They also confirm that the intention of the proposed amendment to Statute D, I is to make it possible for the Council or the Board to establish a part-time office in a class of office which already exists, that is as specified in Statute D, I(a).

In relation to Professorships and Readerships, which are established individually by Grace, the Report seeking the establishment of the office will naturally indicate that the office is to be established part-time. Although, as Professor Edwards correctly points out, the University has historically filled certain offices part-time, the Council and the Board believe that, Statute D, II, 11 notwithstanding, the authority to establish part-time offices should be clearly set out in the Statutes. However, the Council and the Board wish to thank Professor Edwards for his helpful comments and, in the light of these, to propose that the previously proposed addition to Statute D, I be amended so as to read:

(e) Offices established either by the University or by the competent authority may be established by these authorities on a part-time basis.

Professor Edwards referred to section 5.1.7 of the Wass Report (Reporter, 1988-89, p. 613). This section lists the powers that the Wass Syndicate proposed should be retained by the Regent House and follows on from the proposal in section 5.1.6 that 'the power to enact Ordinances, to issue Orders, and to take executive action … should be shared between the Regent House and the central bodies. The Regent House would retain power to make and amend Ordinances, and to take executive decisions, in those areas of University business where authority ought properly to be placed in the hands of the governing body.' The list of powers that the Regent House would retain includes the power to make, alter, or repeal Statutes, to elect members of the Council, to establish or terminate Professorships and to establish or suppress Faculties, and to make or amend Ordinances on University offices. The Fourth Report of the Statutes and Ordinances Revision Syndicate (Reporter, 1994-95, p. 822) proposed revision of the general Ordinances for University offices by replacing the phrase 'A University office shall be established … by the University on the recommendation of the competent authority' to 'A University office shall be established … by the competent authority'. This amendment was approved by Grace 7 of 26 July 1995.

With regard to Professor Edwards's point concerning eligibility for the M.A. Degree under Statute B, III, 6, the holders of part-time offices will be treated on the same basis as the holders of full-time offices.

With the concurrence of the General Board, the Council are submitting a Grace (Grace 9, p. 882) to the Regent House for the approval of the recommendation of the Report for the proposed addition to Statute D, I, as amended above.

Table of Contents