No 6512
Wednesday 27 June 2018
Vol cxlviii No 36
pp. 726–756
27 June, Wednesday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m. (General Admission). Scarlet day.
28 June, Thursday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m. (General Admission). Scarlet day.
29 June, Friday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m. (General Admission). Scarlet day.
30 June, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m. (General Admission). Scarlet day.
17 July, Tuesday. Discussion in the Senate-House at 2 p.m.
20 July, Friday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m.
21 July, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 10 a.m.
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that the Discussion announced for Tuesday, 10 July 2018 will not take place as there are no Reports ready for discussion.
1. By a Grace submitted to the Regent House on 10 May 2018, the Council was given authority in advance to arrange, on the advice of the Finance Committee, external finance up to a total amount of £600 million for income-generating projects.
2. The Council believes that there remains a clear need and case for external finance, and with the advice of the Finance Committee and its external advisors, agreed at a meeting held on 21 May 2018 to raise external finance through a bond issue. The Council’s Report of 18 April 2018 provides useful background information (Reporter, 6502, 2017–18, p. 514).
3. The University has now agreed the terms of two bond issues. The first is a £300 million bond with an interest rate of 0.25 percent, repayable in equal annual instalments between 10 and 50 years (‘amortizing’), with those payments of principal and interest being linked to any rise in the Consumer Prices Index, within a ‘floor’ and ‘cap’ of 0 percent and 3 percent per annum. The second is a £300 million bond with a fixed interest rate of 2.35 percent, repayable in 60 years’ time.
4. The Council and the 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.
The Council has received the remarks made at the Discussion on 12 June 2018 (Reporter, 6511, 2017–18, p. 712) concerning the above Report (Reporter, 6508, 2017–18, p. 632).
The Council notes that some of the remarks on the Budget Report 2018 question the level of investment in staff, and the balance of Chest allocation towards academic activities versus administrative services. It draws attention to the following:
•The overall forecast allocation of Chest funding in 2018–19 is £496.3m, of which just under 75% is invested in support of academic activity.
•The increase in overall Chest allocations from 2017–18 to 2018–19, over and above those that were already built into the previous Budget Report, is just under £10m recurrently. The majority of those allocations – £6.6m – is to support University-wide staff initiatives under the roll-out of proposals being implemented under the People Strategy. This includes pay and reward schemes for academic staff, and investment in the outcome of the internal relativities review (including initiatives to address, where necessary, instances of unequal pay, and ongoing measures to address the gender pay gap).
The Council agrees that investment across the University must be as efficient as possible. Urgent attention must be given to achieving a more collaborative and joined-up approach to the delivery of professional services across all parts of the University. This should focus on administrative activities not only in the UAS, but also in non-School institutions, School offices, and Faculties and Departments. The Council, with the support of its Finance Committee, and working closely with the Chief Financial Officer and incoming Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Strategy and Planning, will be considering short-term and long-term measures to improve the current financial position in the academic University and a meeting is due in September to discuss what immediate actions may be taken.
Achieving greater efficiency in expenditure overall will require strong leadership, and effective and robust governance. Above all it will rely on mutual goodwill and respect between academic and professional staff communities throughout the University to achieve a better long-term solution for the benefit of all.
The Council is submitting a Grace (Grace 2, p. 737) for the approval of the recommendations of this Report.
In his Notice dated 27 April 2018 (Reporter, 6504, 2017–18, p. 534), the Vice-Chancellor published an amendment to Grace 1 of 18 April 2018 initiated by 26 members of the Regent House. The Vice-Chancellor, in accordance with Regulation 11(a) of the regulations for Graces and Congregations (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 105) and after consultation with the Council at its meeting on 18 June 2018, has ruled that the amendment is immaterial to the main purpose of the Grace. That main purpose is to add the holders of the appointments of Director of Research and Principal Research Associate to the membership of the Regent House, whereas the purpose of the proposal put forward by the amendment is to remove the Faculty membership requirement from the criteria for Regent House membership for those in certain membership classes.1 The Council was invited to consider the submission of the amendment as a separate Grace and has decided to do so (see Grace 1, p. 737), noting that this is a matter to which members of the University’s postdoctoral community have drawn attention in the past. It has also decided to call a ballot on that Grace, in accordance with Regulation 7 of the regulations for Graces and Congregations (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 105).
The Council notes that the University’s Statutes and Ordinances do not allow the Council to submit amendments to Graces, except where amendments have been first proposed by members of Regent House. Thus, in submitting the amendment as a separate Grace, the Council is not able to provide the Regent House with alternative options to that proposed by the signatories to the amendment.
The submission by the Council of the amendment as a separate Grace should not be taken as an indication that the Council is recommending this Grace to the Regent House. The Council established a Governance Review Working Group to consider questions concerning who should be qualified for membership of Regent House, among other governance issues (Reporter, 6464, 2016–17, p. 508), and referred this amendment to that Group. The Working Group recommended that the current form of the Grace drew in too many members of staff with little knowledge or experience of the University. They suggested that a qualifying period of service should be added, in place of the current Faculty membership criterion. The Council would look favourably on an amendment offering the Regent House an option of including a qualifying period of service.
A timetable for a vote on the new Grace is set out below. A date of effect has been added to the Grace, in order to confirm a date of implementation that is in line with the production timetable for the Roll. If the Grace is approved, the criteria as amended would be applied to those on the Roll published in November 2019.
The Vice-Chancellor’s ruling deems the proposers of the amendment to have requested a ballot on the original Grace and therefore a separate ballot shall be conducted on Grace 1 of 18 April 2018.
There shall be separate but concurrent ballots on Grace 1 of 27 June 2018 (p. 737) and Grace 1 of 18 April 2018. In connection with these ballots the Registrary will arrange for the circulation of any fly-sheet, signed by ten or more members of the Regent House, which reaches her by 1 p.m. on Thursday, 4 October 2018. Fly-sheets must bear, in addition to the signatures, the names and initials (in block capitals) of the signatories (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 110). Documents which are submitted by fax to 01223 (3)32332 or scanned or photographed documents containing a signature sent to the Registrary at Registrary@admin.cam.ac.uk will also be accepted. Online voting will open at 10 a.m. on Monday, 15 October 2018 and close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, 25 October 2018; fly-sheets will be available online. Hardcopy voting papers and fly-sheets will be distributed not later than Monday, 15 October 2018 to those who opted by 2 November 2017 to vote on paper; the last date for the return of voting papers will be 5 p.m. on Thursday, 25 October 2018.
1The relevant classes are currently (i) holders of the appointments of Senior Research Associate, Research Associate, Lecturer (unestablished), and Assistant Lecturer (unestablished), (iii) Computer Associates, Grades I, II, and III, and (iv) Affiliated Lecturers (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 104).
The Council gives notice of the change of name of the above committee to the Committee on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs and publishes for the information of the University its revised terms of reference, which the Council has approved. Key aspects of the revisions are as follows:
•the opportunity has been taken to identify where the Committee acts in an advisory capacity and where it acts in an executive capacity on behalf of the Council;
•the name of the Committee has been revised to clarify that it does not act only in an advisory capacity;
•the revised terms make explicit mention of certain business which is assigned to the Committee but which has not previously been mentioned in its terms of reference (i.e. admission to recognition societies and review of the Statement of Investment Responsibility);
•it is proposed that certain matters relating to branding be added to the Committee’s remit;
•to provide for compliance with best practice, it is specified that the Vice-Chancellor will not chair the Committee when the Committee is considering whether or not to advise the Vice-Chancellor to accept a benefaction;
•the revised terms provide for the Committee to co-opt up to two additional members.
The Committee on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs (CBELA) (formerly entitled the Advisory Committee on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs) is a standing committee of the Council.
The terms of reference of the Committee are as follows:
(1) to advise the Vice-Chancellor in respect of prospective donations over £1m to the University, or that are referred to it (including by Development and Alumni Relations and Cambridge in America) as being likely to give rise to significant public interest, whether such benefactions are acceptable on ethical or reputational grounds;
(2)to provide advice in response to requests from any College of the University as to whether the acceptance of any prospective donation or funding to the body making the request would be acceptable;
(3)to decide on behalf of the Council whether qualifying donors for membership of the Vice-Chancellor’s Circle and the Guild of Cambridge Benefactors are acceptable on ethical or reputational grounds;
(4)to maintain and keep under review guidelines governing the acceptability of donations and other funding to the University on ethical or reputational grounds;
(5)to approve on behalf of the Council the prospective naming of buildings, virtual entities, academic posts, studentships, and other entities (such as prizes and awards) in accordance with policy approved by the Council from time to time;
(6)to keep the University’s policy on investment responsibility under review, to meet for this purpose with the University’s Chief Investment Officer and Director of Finance at least once a year, and to advise the Council regarding such revisions to the University’s policy on investment responsibility as the Committee may recommend from time to time;
(7) to provide advice on such issues of reputational, ethical, or similar concern as the Chair of the Committee may approve for consideration by the Committee from time to time;
(8)to decide on behalf of the Council whether any source of funding referred to it by the Pro-Vice-Chancellors, the Research Operations Office, the Strategic Partnerships Office, or (with the approval of the Secretary) other University bodies is acceptable on ethical or reputational grounds;
(9)on behalf of the Council to approve policies and procedures in relation to (i) the use of the University’s name and logo (coat of arms) for branding purposes and (ii) the registration, protection, and enforcement of the University’s trade marks and to determine any questions relating to the management or use of the University’s brand as may be referred to it by the Chair or Secretary of the Committee; and
(10) to exercise on behalf of the Council oversight of the University’s legal affairs, and to authorize on behalf of the Council the bringing, defence, or conduct of legal proceedings by or against the University.
The membership of the Committee comprises the Vice-Chancellor (as Chair) and five other members of the Council: one from class (a) (Heads of Colleges), two from class (b) (Professors or Readers) or class (c) (other members of the Regent House), one from class (d) (student members), and one from class (e) (external members).
The Committee shall have power to co-opt up to two additional members of the Committee for renewable periods of two years. Co-opted members need not be employees of the University or a College or be eligible for membership of the Regent House.
The Committee may invite other persons to attend for the whole of meetings of the Committee or for particular items of business.
The member of the Committee drawn from class (e) (external members), or, in that member’s absence, such member of the Committee other than the Vice-Chancellor as may be appointed by agreement of the members of the Committee who are present, shall act as chair of the Committee in relation to business arising under (1) above.
No business may be transacted by the Committee unless a quorum of at least three members is in attendance.
In any vote each member in attendance at the meeting shall have a single vote and voting shall be decided by a simple majority of the members in attendance at the meeting.
The Committee may approve business between meetings of the Committee by circulation, save that no matter shall be approved by circulation if any member of the Board requests that it be called in for discussion at a meeting of the Committee.
To the extent that any business of the Committee concerning legal matters falls into categories (i), (ii), or (iii) of Special Ordinance A (vii) 5, and/or relates in any way to the personal affairs of a member of staff or a student, any such business shall be treated as reserved business, but otherwise business concerning legal matters shall not be reserved, except where the Vice-Chancellor declares otherwise on a case by case basis.
The Committee shall report to the Council through the minutes of its meetings and/or by such other means as the Council shall determine.
The Audit Committee shall receive an annual report of the activities of the Committee to monitor its effectiveness in dealing with questions of ethical and reputational risk.