No 6289
Tuesday 11 December 2012
Vol cxliii No 12
pp. 212–267
The Council begs leave to report to the University:
In its last Annual Report, the Council reported the election, in October 2011, of Lord Sainsbury of Turville, K, as Chancellor of the University in succession to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. Lord Sainsbury was installed as Chancellor in the Senate-House on 21 March 2012, and has carried out duties for the University since his election, including briefing meetings on University business, visits to Departments, Faculties, and Colleges, presiding at the annual ceremonies to confer Honorary Degrees and membership of the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors, and attendance at official functions on behalf of the University.
On 1 October 2011, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, W, addressed the University on The new imperatives, reiterating the University’s commitment to its values, and drawing attention to the need to assess and describe Cambridge’s contribution to society; to develop strategic, considered research directions; to nurture the diverse communities within Cambridge; and to strengthen the University’s external relationships. These themes retained their importance throughout the academical year, for example in the evolving plans for North West Cambridge, and have been the subject of the Council’s close and ongoing attention. The Council continues to value the strong and decisive leadership of the Vice-Chancellor in an uncertain, challenging, and competitive national and international context.
The term of office of three Pro-Vice-Chancellors came up for renewal in 2011–12. After a formal review in each case, the Council reappointed Professor Stephen Young, EM, as senior Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Planning and Resources) for a further period, until 31 July 2015; and Professor Lynn Gladden, T, as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), and Dr Jennifer Barnes, MUR, as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International Strategy) until 31 December 2015. The Council recognizes and appreciates the importance of the work of all of the Pro-Vice-Chancellors and their dedication to their respective portfolios.
The Council is defined by Statute A as the principal executive and policy-making body of the University, having general responsibility for the administration of the University, for the planning of its work, and for the management of its resources. It is declared to have power to take such action as is necessary for it to discharge these responsibilities. It is also to perform such other executive and administrative duties as may be delegated to it by the Regent House or assigned to it by Statute or Ordinance.
The Council’s Statement of Primary Responsibilities (annexed to this Report) is reviewed annually together with its Standing Orders, the Code of Practice for members of the Council, and the Statement of Corporate Governance.
The Council continues to operate its internal processes through ordinary regular meetings (eleven each year) and, as necessary, special meetings, scrutiny of business through the Business Committee, the Executive Committee and other committees, and through receipt and approval of routine business by circulation. Business is monitored and managed through the regular consideration of work plans. The Council has continued to hold two strategic meetings a year, one in September and one in the spring. Most material considered by the Council is available to members and staff of the University on its website at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/committee/council/.
The membership of the Council during the 2011–12 academical year is appended as Annex A.
Dame Mavis McDonald’s and Dr Vanessa Lawrence’s first terms of office will expire on 31 December 2012. Dame Mavis McDonald will seek reappointment; Dr Lawrence will not. The Council is grateful to her for the contribution which she has made and continues to make to the Council’s deliberations and work. In accordance with the provisions in Ordinance, the Council appointed Mr John Shakeshaft to chair the Nominating Committee for members of the Council in class (e). The Committee submitted a recommendation to the Council on 22 October 2012.1
In the course of the 2009–10 academical year, the Council’s Standing Advisory Committee on Student Matters (SACSM) considered a submission from its student members proposing substantive changes to the process for electing student members of the Council and the General Board. During the Michaelmas Term 2011, the Council and the General Board received and considered detailed proposals. A Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on student membership of the two bodies was approved by Grace 10 of 15 February 2012. With effect from the elections in Lent Term 2013, candidates standing for election as Presidents of the respective Student Unions will also stand, in a personal capacity, for election to the Council. It will remain possible to elect a candidate who is independent of both Student Unions.
The working group on Council business chaired by Mr John Shakeshaft submitted an interim report about the submission and presentation of Council business to the Council’s strategic meeting in September 2011. Formal recommendations were submitted and approved during the Michaelmas Term 2011, resulting in significant changes to the format of the materials presented to the Council from 1 January 2012. The Council considers that these changes have done much to increase the clarity and transparency of Council materials and to focus discussion; it is anticipated that other Council Committees will now adopt a similar format.
In the second phase of its activities, the working group has considered broader questions around the Council’s role and functioning. Following extensive consultation with current and previous members of the Council, the working group submitted proposals to the Council at its meeting on 16 July 2012, for revisions to the style and content of the Council handbook. In particular, it was proposed that there should be a section setting out the legal duties and responsibilities of members of the Council as Charity Trustees. The Council’s Standing Orders were also significantly revised. The Council approved these materials at its meetings on 16 July and 22 October 2012 for adoption for use with effect from 1 January 2013.
During 2011–12, the Council received a progress report on the North West Cambridge Project at every meeting. Cambridge University Press and the Local Examinations Syndicate (Cambridge Assessment) report annually to the Council; the respective Chief Executive Officers and the Chairs of the Syndicates attend to present their reports and to answer questions. The Office of External Affairs and Communications and the University Development Office also report annually.
During 2011–12, the Council considered the recommendations made by the review of the strategy, plans, and budget of the Unified Administrative Service (UAS), chaired by Dame Mavis McDonald, together with the Registrary’s response. The review, on the basis of a thorough analysis of the data and written submissions provided to it, had endorsed the overall strategy of the UAS.
The review of IT infrastructure and support in the University, chaired by Professor Keith Burnett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, which was initiated by the Council during 2010–11, has completed its deliberations and will report during Michaelmas Term 2012.
During the year, both the Council and the General Board have discussed revisions to the University’s Sites and Buildings Regulations. A Joint Report was published on 30 November 2011 (Reporter, 6247, 2011–12, p. 269) and the new Regulations were brought into force in February 2012 (Reporter, 6255, 2011–12, p. 458). This followed an extensive process to bring together all the many elements by which the University’s estate is managed through statute, ordinance, and committee practice and record them in one set of regulations. While no substantive changes were made, the new Regulations provide some much needed clarity and accessibility for officers and committee members with responsibilities in this area and in addition, clarify the basis on which Departments can, with the approval of the Buildings Committee, take direct responsibility for minor building works and maintenance. A process has also been established for the issue of a Reporter Notice prior to the undertaking of building works considered not to require Regent House approval.
The work of the Technical Advisory Group on the Review of the Statutes, and Ordinances, chaired by Professor David Yates, Warden of Robinson College, is reaching fruition. A Report comprising a full set of revised Statutes was published in the Reporter of 28 June 2012 seeking approval in principle by the Regent House. The Report asked the Regent House to consider for the first time the introduction of a form of ‘Special Ordinance’, primarily intended to contain material previously enshrined in Statute, which would not be subject to Privy Council approval but which could only be amended by means of a Report to the Regent House, followed by a Discussion and Grace. The introduction of Special Ordinances would enable the focus of the Statutes to be the more fundamental constitutional matters, with the removal to Special Ordinance of a significant amount of detailed material.
A Discussion took place on 2 October 2012 and the Council has published its response to the remarks made in Discussion (Reporter, 2012–13, 6280, p. 37; 6283, p. 85). The Regent House has subsequently approved a Grace giving approval in principle to the form of the new Statutes (Reporter, 6285, 2012–13, p. 124). It is expected that a final Report seeking approval of the new Statutes will be issued in the Easter Term 2013 and that, if approved by Her Majesty in Council, the revised Statutes and accompanying Special Ordinances will come into effect by early 2014.
In November 2005, the Council published a Report on voting arrangements which suggested, inter alia, that consideration be given as to whether electronic voting by the Regent House could be introduced (Reporter, 6018, 2005–06, p. 190). During Lent Term 2012, the Council considered and approved in principle a proposal for the introduction of electronic voting (with a retained provision for paper voting) in all ballots of the Regent House. A working group has been established to consider the costs and practical workings of the proposals and will submit detailed recommendations to the Council during Lent Term 2013. The Council will submit a Report to the University thereafter.
The last of three annual accountability exchange meetings took place between HEFCE and the University in accordance with the action arising from the HEFCE Quinquennial Assurance Review in June 2008. The University continues to enjoy full assurance. In response to a request from the HEFCE in August 2011, the University agreed to review its governance arrangements in the light of the changing Higher Education context by the end of the 2013–14 academical year and inform the HEFCE of its conclusions. The Audit Committee has asked the Council to consider how such a review might best be conducted and has suggested that it might follow the model of self-reflection which had been adopted for preparation of the quinquennial visit by HEFCE in 2008.
The Audit Committee Working Group, which is responsible for considering the University’s policies and procedures in the context of the findings and recommendations of the Woolf Inquiry Report continues to make good progress. The Group, chaired by Mr John Shakeshaft, will report in due course on changes, as necessary, to current policies, practices, and governance arrangements concerning the acceptance of benefactions, the admission of postgraduate students, the acceptance of research funding, and the establishment of international partnerships.
A Joint Oversight Group is providing support to the Cambridge University Press executive and is monitoring the Press’s response to the questions raised in the external auditors’ report for the academical year 2010–11 about the suitability and effectiveness of the Press’s financial and operational controls. The Group, chaired by Mr John Shakeshaft, is assisting and advising the Press on the introduction, implementation, and acceptance of appropriate risk-based controls over several reporting periods and a finance change programme in support of the business including a major new systems implementation.
A policy against bribery and corruption was approved on 23 April 2012 and subsequently published in the Reporter (Reporter, 6265, 2011–12, p. 593). The policy sets out the responsibilities and legal liabilities which the Bribery Act 2010 confers on the University as an institution; on individual employees; and on third parties supplying services to the University.
In response to an internal audit report on the University’s business continuity arrangements, a new emergency and continuity planning framework, emergency management policy, and an updated continuity planning policy were approved by the Council on 28 May 2012. Since then, a thorough review of emergency management arrangements has taken place and, as a result, revised emergency response plans at University and local level have been drafted for approval by the Risk Steering Committee on behalf of the Council in Michaelmas 2012 with roll-out anticipated during 2012–13. The new plans encompass both the emergency management and business continuity aspects of emergency response.
In September 2011, the Council approved the Audit Committee’s report on its review of the University’s subsidiary companies’ governance structures and risk management procedures. In May 2012, a follow-up report was received outlining the actions taken by each of the subsidiaries in response to the Committee’s recommendations. Good progress had been made. Some more work was required with Fitzwilliam Museum Enterprises Ltd and with IfM Education and Consultancy Services Ltd and JBS Executive Education Ltd where reviews of governance structures were underway but not completed. The Audit Committee will be receiving an update by the end of the calendar year.
There was one change in the Audit Committee’s membership during the academical year. In October 2011, Dr Susan Lintott stepped down as a class (d) member and the Committee resolved to co-opt Dr Keith Carne, First Bursar at King’s College, in her stead.
The 2012 Budget Report indicated some signs of improvement in the financial position. The pessimistic outlook of the previous year was replaced by cautious optimism as the cumulative Chest deficit predicted for the period 2009–10 to 2015–16 reduced from £36m to £23m, and with a return to surplus expected in 2014–15 – one year ahead of schedule. In part, this recovery is driven by the efficiencies attained over the past few years. Allocations for 2011–12 were reduced by 2% compared to the previous year, and the voluntary severance scheme has removed just under £4m from the baseline. The pay award of a flat £150 p.a. in August 2011 was less than the budgeted 0.5%.
Against this, however, is the unwelcome indication that the £9,000 fee will be frozen at that value in 2013–14 and possibly for longer. Institutions charging less than the maximum will be able to apply an inflationary increase but the fixed value of the cap will represent a real terms cut for those, like Cambridge, charging the maximum fee.
Further financial pressure arises from the implementation of the recommendations of the Wakeham Report, whereby the indirect costs chargeable to Research Council grants are reduced in order to drive efficiency savings within HEIs. This is a departure from the principles of full economic costing. Whilst Cambridge has achieved efficiencies, the effect of the Wakeham reforms is to reduce the savings with a corresponding impact on the University’s bottom line.
In view of these and other cost pressures, the 2012 Budget Report did not recommend the relaxation of the projected 1% increase in Allocations in 2012–13 and onwards. The Council, through the Planning and Resources Committee (PRC), has agreed that the 1% increase should apply for the whole of the next planning period. This represents a continuing real-terms cut in Allocations.
Negotiations with the Colleges over the value of the transfer of funding under the new fee regime were concluded satisfactorily during the year and included a new approach to the division of costs to support bursaries and other elements of student support. The Council is grateful to the Colleges for the co-operative spirit in which the negotiations were conducted.
The Capital Planning Framework introduced in 2010–11 was developed in consultation with Schools. The Capital Plan assigns building projects to a green zone (firm intention to build) and an amber zone (not as yet a firm intention) according to School (and other) priorities approved by the PRC. Approval to proceed was given to the first of the projects to receive contributions from the Capital Fund: the new Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology building, the Data Centre, and an extension to the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre. The Capital Fund also provides funding assistance for the purchase of the equipment needed for grant-supported research projects and for the provision of urgently needed general teaching and learning and research equipment. The Capital Plan assumes a contribution of £33m annually from a variety of sources. Funding for building projects is supplemented by donation support of not less than 15%, which must be underwritten by Departments.
To assist in longer term strategic planning, a set of sustainability metrics are being developed covering the full range of the University’s operations. These will allow the Council to track performance over time and make comparisons with cognate institutions. Although initially paper-based, the metrics will eventually be accessible via a live, web-based system with the opportunity to drill down on individual metrics and review the supporting data.
The Council, on the recommendation of the Finance Committee, agreed, in December 2010, to seek authority in advance from the Regent House to arrange external borrowing of up to £350 million. This was granted by Grace in February 2011. Rothschild’s Debt Advisory Department was commissioned to advise on external financing and presented a first report to the Finance Committee at its meeting on 14 September 2011. The report was subsequently considered by the Council at its strategic meeting on 26 and 27 September 2012. Further reports had been brought to the Finance Committee on 14 March 2012, 9 May 2012, and 11 July 2012. On each occasion, the Finance Committee had reaffirmed its recommendation to the Council that external borrowing should be pursued. Moody’s rating agency visited the University in June 2012 and indicated a rating.
Although not within the reporting period, the Council is pleased to confirm to the University that, at its meeting on 24 September 2012, it accepted the Finance Committee’s recommendation that the University should issue, as soon as possible, a bond of up to £350m for general corporate purposes to promote the wider academic mission of the University. Moody’s published its Aaa rating (with a stable outlook) on 2 October 2012. On 9 October 2012, the University agreed the terms of that bond issue. The amount is £350 million, the coupon is 3.750 per centum per annum, and the maturity date is 2052. The Council and Finance Committee consider that the factors of cost, flexibility, tenor, risk (current and future), and affordability of borrowing are appropriate and manageable in the context of the University’s current financial constraints, risks, and outlook.
In its Annual Report for 2010–11, the Council noted that it had ‘conducted its business and made its decisions in a difficult and rapidly changing environment’. The same has been true in 2011–12. The new fee regime and its implications continue to be the subject of discussion and debate and, indeed, protest and activism. The University will continue to monitor the impact on access of the new fee regime.
The Council last year reflected on the University’s response to the occupation of the Combination Room and noted the University’s commitment to permitting the lawful expression of opinion. On Tuesday, 22 November 2011, a protest prevented the Minister of State for Universities and Science from giving a lecture on The idea of the university as part of a lecture series hosted by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities. The Council issued a statement noting the value which it attached to the diversity of opinion and view; its belief that freedom of expression is a fundamental principle of the University; and its view that the protest violated that principle.
The subsequent charge of a student by the University Advocate and the verdict and sentence which, on 14 March 2012, the Court of Discipline delivered in the case generated strong feelings and vigorous representations. A topic of concern was brought forward by members of the Regent House and was the subject of a Discussion on 24 April 2012. On 22 June 2012, the Septemviri heard an appeal from the decision and sentence of the Court of Discipline. A Notice, setting out the decision of the Septemviri to uphold the Court of Discipline’s guilty verdict but to substitute a sentence that the defendant be rusticated for one term rather than the seven originally imposed by the Court of Discipline was published together with the reasoned decisions of both the Court of Discipline and the Septemviri (Reporter, 6273, 2011–12, p. 750).
The University’s Courts are bodies independent of the Council over which the Council has no jurisdiction. The Council did not, therefore, at any point, seek to interfere with or to comment upon the case while it continued. Once the case was concluded, the Council published a Notice in response to the remarks made in Discussion (Reporter, 6283, 2012–13, p. 84).
The Council, in its 2010–11 Report, noted that the Home Office’s new rules on immigration had potentially serious implications for the University’s capacity to recruit the best international academics and students. The Vice-Chancellor has, in the course of the past year, regularly raised the University’s concerns about the negative impact on higher education of the government’s current immigration policies with the Minister of State for Universities and Science, the Home Secretary, and other government ministers and officials. Following its meeting on 18 June 2012, the Council issued and published on the University website, a statement deploring the current policy.
Teaching and research is the responsibility of the General Board and of the Schools, Faculties, and Departments. The General Board report annually to the Council. Their Report for 2011–12 is annexed to this Report.
The Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on the governance arrangements for the Fitzwilliam Museum and Kettle’s Yard, approved by Grace 2 of 18 July 2012, transferred responsibility for those institutions to the General Board with, it is anticipated, consequential benefits to the University’s educational provision and research output as well as to the overall governance arrangements for the University’s Museums and Collections.
The Fitzwilliam Museum was an Institution under the supervision of the Council when valuable and important pieces of jade were stolen on 13 April 2012. The Council therefore had a legitimate interest in the theft and in the measures taken to enhance security at the University’s museums and was reassured to learn that, notwithstanding previous reports on the satisfactoriness of the security arrangements, three reviews of security at the Museum had taken place in the days following the theft. The National Security Adviser for the Arts Council had been asked to bring forward the date of his annual visit and to review security prior to the start of the exhibition: The Search for Immortality: Tomb Treasures of Han China. His report concluded that ‘security measures mitigate or reduce risks to Very Low, and at an acceptable level to allow UK Government Indemnity to be granted’ for the exhibition. Further reviews were undertaken by companies which insure objects at the Museum. The recommendations of those reviews are being implemented.
Amongst the educational developments described more fully in the General Board’s Report, attention is drawn to the introduction of new Triposes, with effect from October 2013, in Human, Social, and Political Sciences and in Psychological and Behavioural Sciences (approved by Grace 4 of 12 October 2012), and to significant reforms to the English Tripos (summarized in the General Board’s Notice (Reporter, 6276, 2011–12, p. 869)) arising from the General Board’s Strategic Review of that Faculty.
The General Board responded to a HEFCE consultation on a risk-based approach to quality assurance and to a HEFCE/UUK/Guild HE consultation on public information about Higher Education. (These responses can be found at the Academic Division’s Educational and Student Policy website (http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/education/consultations/index.html).) In connection with the latter, the University’s entries for the public Key Information Sets, required by HEFCE and intended to provide standard information about undergraduate programmes across the sector, were published in October 2012 as part of the online Undergraduate Prospectus.
The Board has, particularly by means of the external engagements of the Vice-Chancellor and the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education), been considering the extent of the University’s and the Russell Group’s engagements with changes to A levels, as proposed by the Secretary of State for Education and by OFQUAL.
An International Strategy Committee was formed, as a Joint Committee of the Council and the General Board, to take forward and provide oversight for the University’s international activities at the institutional level. A paper on International Engagement has been issued for consultation in the University.
Over the last two years, eight strategic research initiatives have been developed. These initiatives, which include ‘Energy’, represent the University’s most important areas for future research. Within this framework the University was successful in gaining funding for a Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research in Energy Efficiency (CARES) in Singapore. CARES will serve as an intellectual hub for research, scholarship, entrepreneurship, and for postgraduate/postdoctoral training, and will be located in Singapore within the Centre for Carbon Reduction in Chemical Technology. The initial phase of the project is directed towards minimizing the carbon footprint of petrochemical and refining technologies.
The Human Resources Committee, in response to the government’s announcement of the abolition of the national retirement age with effect from 6 April 2011, finalized a Report for Council and the General Board. This Report was put to the Regent House in December 2011 (Reporter, 6249, 2011–12, p. 347) and a proposal for an Employer Justified Retirement Age (at age 67) for established Officers only was accepted. A new Retirement Policy has now been implemented.
The University and Assistants’ Joint Board (UAJB) on 8 May 2012 approved the recommendations arising from the Special Joint Negotiating Committee on revisions to the Cambridge University Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS). This followed the formal staff consultation which took place between 5 August 2011 and 11 November 2011. The CPS trustees have been consulted in parallel. The final revisions have been endorsed by the General Board and Council and a Notice concerning the changes has been published (Reporter, 6282, 2012–13, p. 55).
The University consulted widely to develop equality objectives, a requirement of the Equality Act 2010. The objectives identify the priorities for the next four years, including seeking to improve the University’s gender balance at senior levels of the organization, and continuing to provide an inclusive environment for work and study. The draft objectives were published in April 2012 and formally adopted in July 2012. In addition, the University’s Combined Equality Scheme was updated in January 2012 to reflect the Equality Act. It emphasizes the University’s commitment to fair and equal treatment for all legally protected groups.
The Council considered and approved the proposed revisions to the Statute U, Grievance Procedure, subject to further work also being carried out on the Disciplinary Procedure. Following a Discussion in the Regent House, an amended Grace was approved on 27 July 2012.
The University set up a Working Group in 2010 to review the Senior Academic Promotion process. A number of recommendations were implemented at the time and during the course of this year a change to the scoring methodology was approved for implementation in the 2013 round, following a number of minor changes that were approved for incorporation in the previous round. A new numerical scoring system will assist the Faculty Promotions Committees and Sub-Committees in the task of creating a numerical rank order of applicants for each of the Offices.
A sub-committee chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Institutional Affairs) was set up to review aspects of Pay and Reward including market supplements and an extension of the grade 12 pay scales. The current pay and reward provisions had been implemented with the single salary spine in 2006. There have, in the intervening period, been significant changes in the external market employment conditions for both academic and academic-related staff which are hindering the University’s capacity to recruit and retain senior staff. Market supplements are an increasingly unsatisfactory means of addressing the misalignment between University salaries and those elsewhere both within and outside the sector. The sub-committee is planning to consult on proposals during the Michaelmas Term 2012.
Following submission of the overall outline planning application for the project in September 2011, a public consultation was undertaken by Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council, the local authorities responsible for determining the application. This resulted in a number of technical changes to the application being requested, which were completed in March 2012. It was also agreed with the local authorities that negotiation of the Heads of Terms for the section 106 legal agreement would be undertaken in order that they could be considered for approval alongside the planning application. The grant of planning consent would then be secured once the section 106 legal agreement was signed. Following extensive discussions with officers and members, the application was formally considered by the local authorities’ Joint Development Control Committee (Fringe Sites) at its meeting on 8 August 2012. A resolution to grant consent was unanimously approved, subject to site-wide planning conditions, completion of design codes, and approval of Reserved Matters relating to each phase of development. The section 106 legal agreement is now in course of preparation and is anticipated to be available for completion and planning consent legally secured in December 2012.
In October 2011, the Council requested that the West and North West Cambridge Estates Syndicate bring forward proposals for a first phase of development comprising some 530 ‘key worker’ residential units for qualifying University and College staff, approximately 300 postgraduate accommodation units, and development sites for approximately 350 units for market sale to residential developers. In order to ensure that there is a functioning community from the outset, the local centre and community facilities comprising foodstore, local shops, primary school, nursery, community rooms, doctors’ surgery, Police office, and playing field facilities should also be completed as part of the first phase. Development of the first phase will require completion of substantial infrastructure comprising roads, drainage, and services, including an energy centre that will supply a district heating main serving all the residential units on the site, as part of the requirement for all homes to be built to the Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5.
Although not within the reporting period, it should be noted that the Council, at its meeting on 22 October 2012, agreed to publish a Report to the University seeking authority to commence development of University land at North West Cambridge. A ballot of the Regent House will take place in January 2013. If a Grace approving expenditure on the proposal is given, commencement of infrastructure works on site could begin in spring 2013, with building works starting at the end of the year, leading to completion of the majority of the phase 1 elements by July 2015.
In last year’s Annual Report, it was reported that the Council and the Colleges’ Committee had decided to bring the 800th Anniversary Campaign to a close. The closure of the Campaign was formally announced at a reception for donors and supporters in London in November 2011. The final Campaign total was £1.172bn and the Council received a full analysis of the funds raised against the original objectives for the Campaign at its meeting on 20 February 2012.
Since the decision to close the 800th Anniversary Campaign, the Council and the Colleges’ Committee have been considering the form of a new Campaign. To assist the Council in its consideration, external consultants were commissioned to advise on the nature of the new Campaign and also on the organizational structures that would be necessary to support its ambitions. The findings of these reviews were considered by the Council at its strategic meeting on 23 April 2012. The Council agreed that detailed proposals for the themes and priorities for a new Campaign, and the strengthening of the University’s Development Office and how it should be funded in the future, would be brought forward for further discussion at its next strategic meeting in September 2012. There would then be formal consideration of the resultant recommendations by the relevant senior bodies in the University.
Following the resignation of Mr Peter Agar from the post of Director of Development, with effect from 31 March 2012, a committee has been established to consider candidates for appointment to this post. In parallel with these developments, the Council has considered initially a proposal from Cambridge University Health Partners (the Academic Health Science Centre comprising the University, Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation NHS Trust, Papworth Hospital Foundation NHS Trust, and Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Foundation NHS Trust) for the creation of a new charity from the current charitable arrangements of the NHS partners in CUHP. This would not involve the transfer of any University assets. The proposal also includes a commitment to create an integrated office for fundraising for medical and health purposes to assist all four partners, jointly and severally, in securing greater benefit from philanthropy for strategic priorities in these fields and for the patients whom they serve. Formal proposals will be considered by the Council and the NHS Trusts in early 2013.
1Nomination of members of the Council in class (e): external members, Regulation 1 (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 116). Graces reappointing Dame Mavis McDonald and appointing Dr Shirley Pearce and Mr Mark Lewisohn were subsequently approved (Reporter, 6284, 2012–13, p. 117).
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26 November 2012 |
L. K. Borysiewicz, Vice-Chancellor |
R. J. Dowling |
Robert Lethbridge |
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David Abulafia |
I. M. Le M. Du Quesnay |
Mavis McDonald |
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N. Bampos |
Nicholas Gay |
Rosalyn Old |
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Richard Barnes |
David Good |
Susan Oosthuizen |
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Charles Bell |
Andy Hopper |
Rachael Padman |
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D. J. A. Casserley |
Christopher Hum |
John Shakeshaft |
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Stephen J. Cowley |
F. P. Kelly |
Sam Wakeford |
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Athene Donald |
Vanessa V. Lawrence |
A. D. Yates |
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The Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor |
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To 31 December 2012 |
To 31 December 2014 |
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Elected as Heads of Colleges |
Prof. David Yates, R Sir Christopher Hum, CAI
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Prof. Francis Patrick Kelly, CHR Prof. Robert David Lethbridge, F
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Elected as Professors or Readers |
Prof. David Samuel Harvard Abulafia, CAI Prof. Dame Athene Margaret Donald, R
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Prof. Nicholas John Gay, CHR Prof. Andrew Hopper, CC
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Elected as members of the Regent House |
Dr Richard James Barnes, EM Mr Robert John Dowling, SID Dr David Arthur Good, K Dr Rachael Padman, N
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Dr Nick Bampos, TH Dr Stephen John Cowley, SE Mr Ian Mark Le Mercier Du Quesnay, N Dr Susan Marian Oosthuizen, W
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Members in class (e) (exernal members) |
Dr Vanessa Vivienne Lawrence Dame Mavis McDonald (Deputy Chair, 2011)
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Mr Dominic Casserley, JE Mr John Shakeshaft, T |
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Student members (to 30 June 2012) |
Student members (from 1 July 2012) |
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Mr Thomas Parry-Jones, JN Mr Gerard Tully, TH Mr Morgan Wild, SID |
Mr Charles Bell, Q Ms Rosalyn Old, R Mr Sam Wakeford, TH |
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Secretary: the Registrary |
The Council has adopted this Statement of Primary Responsibilities.
The principal responsibilities of the Council are defined by University Statute A, IV, 1 which reads:
(a)The Council shall be the principal executive and policy-making body of the University. The Council shall have general responsibility for the administration of the University, for the planning of its work, and for the management of its resources; it shall have power to take such action as is necessary for it to discharge these responsibilities. It shall also perform such other executive and administrative duties as may be delegated to it by the Regent House or assigned to it by Statute or Ordinance.
(b)The Council shall have the right of reporting to the University. It shall advise the Regent House on matters of general concern to the University.
(c)The Council shall perform such duties in connection with financial matters as are assigned to it by Statute F, I.
(d)The Council shall make an Annual Report to the University, and shall initiate and submit a Grace for the approval of the Report by the Regent House.
(e)The Council shall have the power of submitting Graces to the Regent House and to the Senate. The procedure for the submission of Graces shall be prescribed by Ordinance.
(f)The Council shall oversee the work of all those institutions in the University which are placed under its supervision, and shall ensure that the University officers assigned to those institutions are satisfactorily performing the duties and fulfilling the conditions of tenure of their offices.
Pursuant to these responsibilities the Council:
•through its Finance Committee, its Audit Committee, and the Planning and Resources Committee ensures the University’s accountability for the proper use of public funds;
•supervises the financial position of the University through its statutory Finance Committee;
•arranges audit through its statutory Audit Committee;
•conducts legal business and ethical scrutiny, especially in respect of the acceptance of benefactions and investment responsibility, through its Executive Committee;
•discharges its responsibilities in relation to the University as an employer through the Human Resources Committee (HRC), a joint Committee with the General Board;
•develops University policy on the advice of the General Board and that of specialist advisory bodies;
•conducts planning and resource allocation through the Planning and Resources Committee (PRC) and the Resource Management Committee (RMC), both joint Committees with the General Board;
•deals with business about buildings and the University estate with the advice of the Buildings Committee (a joint Committee with the General Board which reports through the PRC), and on the advice of the Finance Committee;
•informs and advises the Regent House through Reports, Notices, and Graces, and through considering remarks made at Discussions;
•conducts the University’s relations with government, HEFCE, other national bodies, and local and regional bodies;
•supports and advises the Vice-Chancellor, and through him or her the team of Pro-Vice-Chancellors;
•supervises University institutions placed under its supervision, particularly through receiving reports, and also through the PRC and the HRC;
•through the Finance Committee exercises financial and some other supervision of Cambridge University Press, the Local Examinations Syndicate (Cambridge Assessment), University-owned companies, and some free-standing bodies such as the Cambridge scholarship trusts;
•pursuant to Act of Parliament, discharges responsibilities for the University Student Unions through its Student Matters Committee;
•makes (or recommends) senior appointments (including the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellors, the Registrary, and, through its Standing Appointments Committee established by Ordinance, Directors and other senior staff in the Unified Administrative Service;
•assures risk management, emergency management, and value for money surveillance;
•monitors the implementation of major projects, through special groups and the Information Strategy and Services Syndicate, and the North West Cambridge Strategy Committee;
•keeps University governance and similar matters under review;
•makes a statutory annual report to the University;
•monitors its own performance and effectiveness.
The Council has published the following statement (Statutes and Ordinances, 2012, p. 114):
In carrying out their functions as the principal executive and policy-making body of the University, the Council will consult the Regent House on questions of policy which in the Council’s judgement are likely to prove controversial. They will do this by submitting a Grace to the Regent House for the approval of a provisional decision or statement of intention; where appropriate, such a Grace will allow for the expression of a preference between alternative options. The Council will give consideration to remarks made at any Discussion of such matters and to the outcome of any vote on them.