No 6415
Wednesday 17 February 2016
Vol cxlvi No 20
pp. 363–396
20 February, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 2 p.m. (see p. 395).
1 March, Tuesday. Discussion at 2 p.m. in the Senate-House (see below).
4 March, Friday. End of third quarter of Lent Term.
11 March, Friday. Full Term ends.
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Discussions at 2 p.m. |
Congregations |
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1 March |
20 February, Saturday at 2 p.m. |
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15 March |
19 March, Saturday at 11 a.m. |
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2 April, Saturday at 11 a.m. |
The Vice-Chancellor invites those qualified under the regulations for Discussions (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 107) to attend a Discussion in the Senate-House on Tuesday, 1 March 2016, at 2 p.m. for the discussion of:
1. Report of the Council, dated 9 February 2016, on the arrangements for approving market pay (Reporter, 6414, 2015–16, p. 356)
2. Report of the General Board, dated 10 February 2016, on the establishment of an Al-Kindi Professorship (p. 394).
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that the 2016 Rede Lecture will be delivered by The Rt Hon. Lord Adonis, Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford, Interim Chair of the Infrastructure Commission and formerly Secretary of State for Transport. Lord Adonis will lecture at 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 20 April 2016. Further details will be announced later.
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice of elections to fill vacancies on the Board of Scrutiny, and on the Nominating Committee for External Members of the Council, details of which are provided below.
Following an election in January 2016 (Reporter, 6414, 2015–16, p. 350), there remains a vacancy on the Board for one member in class (c)(ii) (members of the Regent House), to serve with immediate effect until 30 September 2019, and the Council has agreed to re-open nominations.
Under the provisions of Statute A VII 4 (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 9) no person may be a member of the Board of Scrutiny who is a member of the Council, the General Board, or the Finance Committee of the Council, or who holds any of the University offices of Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University Advocate, Deputy University Advocate, Registrary, Assistant Registrary, or Secretary of a School. The Statute further prohibits from membership holders of offices with primarily administrative duties designated by Ordinance: Directors and Deputy Directors in the Unified Administrative Service and Assistant Treasurers have been designated as such prohibited offices. A retiring member of the Board who has served for four or more consecutive years is not eligible to serve again as a member in class (c) until one year has elapsed after the end of her or his previous period of service.
Further information about the Board of Scrutiny can be found in the Statutes and Ordinances (pp. 9 and 116), on the Board’s website (http://www.scrutiny.cam.ac.uk/), and obtained from the Chair, Dr Matthew Vernon (email mcv21@cam.ac.uk).
Following the election in January 2016 (Reporter, 6414, 2015–16, p. 350), there remains a vacancy on the Nominating Committee for one member in class (d) (members of the Senate elected by the Regent House), to serve for four years from 1 October 2015.
No person may be a member of the Committee in class (d) who is a member of the Council or who holds any of the University offices of Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Registrary, or Director or Deputy Director in the University Offices.
Further information about the Committee can be found in the Statutes and Ordinances (p. 115) and obtained from the Registrary (email registrary@admin.cam.ac.uk).
The nomination and ballot timetable for both elections is governed by Regulations 1–7 and 10 of the regulations for the Election of Members of the Council (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 114).
In order to be eligible a candidate for election must be nominated on a paper sent to the Vice-Chancellor at the Old Schools so as to reach him not later than 12 noon on Friday, 4 March 2016. The paper must contain (a) a statement signed by two members of the Regent House, nominating the candidate for election to the Board or Nominating Committee, as appropriate, and (b) a statement signed by the candidate certifying that he or she consents to be so nominated. The candidate should also provide a curriculum vitae by the same date (see below).
The Vice-Chancellor would be obliged if nominations could be delivered to the Registrary in the Old Schools during office hours. Envelopes should be clearly marked as Nomination papers. Nomination papers may also be faxed to 01223 332332 or scanned (showing signatures) and sent by email to registrary@admin.cam.ac.uk. Nominations will be published on the Senate-House noticeboard as they are received; the complete list of nominations will be published in the Reporter on Wednesday, 9 March.
In accordance with the regulations governing the election, each person nominated for election is required to send to the Registrary, not later than 12 noon on Friday, 4 March, a statement of her or his curriculum vitae for distribution to members of the Regent House with the voting papers. It is suggested that such a statement should be of not more than 500 words in length, and that it should cover the following points:
•the candidate’s present position in the University;
•previous posts held, whether in Cambridge or in other universities or outside the university system, with dates;
•a note of the candidate’s particular interests within the field of University business and experience that he or she might bring to the Committee/Board.
If there is an election, it will be conducted by ballot under the Single Transferable Vote regulations. Online voting will open at 10 a.m. on Monday, 14 March and close at 5 p.m. on Thursday, 24 March 2016. Hard-copy voting papers will be distributed not later than Monday, 14 March to those who have opted by 6 November 2015 to vote on paper; the last date for the return of voting papers will be 5 p.m. on Thursday, 24 March 2016.
The government has launched a UK-wide review of the Research Excellence Framework, to be chaired by British Academy President Lord Nicholas Stern. Members of the University are invited to contribute to the preparation of the University’s response to the call for evidence (see: http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/research-excellence-framework-review-terms-of-reference), which seeks responses to eight specific questions across five key areas to investigate ways in which a simpler, lighter-touch system for the REF might be developed.
The General Board would welcome comments by 5 p.m. on 26 February 2016. Responses can be provided either online (https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/cam_stern) or by email to consultationresponses@admin.cam.ac.uk. Input to the consultation is also being sought from the Colleges, the Research Policy Committee, the Councils of the Schools, and from Faculty Boards.
The Registrary has received notice from the Clerk at the Privy Council Office that Her Majesty the Queen, at a Council held on 10 February 2016, was pleased to approve the amendments of Statute B II and Statute D which were submitted under the Common Seal of the University in accordance with Graces 1 of 1 February 2012 and 6 of 15 July 2015 respectively.
The amendments to Statute D revise the University’s student disciplinary procedures, and consequential amendments to Special Ordinance and Ordinance have now come into force, with effect from 10 February 2016 (Reporter, 6392, 2014–15, p. 666). The amendment to Statute B II revises Section 1(g) to include the degree of Doctor of Medical Science, which was added to the list of non-primary degrees awarded by the University with effect from 1 March 2014, and removes the reference to the degree of Doctor of Medicine, which was added to the list of primary degrees on the same date (Reporter, 6248, 2011–12, p. 314). This amendment was overlooked when changes to the full set of Statutes were submitted to the Privy Council in 2013 following a technical review.
The proposed extension of General Admission from three to four days was approved by Grace 1 of 13 February 2013 and came into effect in 2014. In the Report proposing those arrangements, dated 14 January 2013, the Council indicated that there would be a review of the new arrangements after they had been in place for at least a year (Reporter, 6293, 2012–13, p. 307).
The Council is pleased to note that the Colleges are content with the new arrangement and consider that it has proved satisfactory in addressing the former difficulties with overcrowding and unduly early starts or late finishes.
The Council is mindful, however, of the need to protect the revised arrangements and notes that in recent years there have been proposals to introduce degrees not presently conferrable at General Admission to these Congregations. The number of graduands presented by each College at General Admission fluctuates a little from year to year, but any significant and sustained additions will require more Colleges to divide their sessions for safety and comfort, extending the Congregations once again. The Council does not believe that such additions can be accommodated without losing much of the advantage recently obtained, or that an extension of General Admission beyond four days is likely to be possible.
The Council considers that in as far as is practical students should be treated equitably when accessing opportunities for graduation on a particular occasion. Consequently if there is limited capacity, the degrees to be conferred at General Admission should be restricted to those following undergraduate study, i.e. the degree of Bachelor of Arts or a Master’s degree taken with the B.A. Degree in a single admission following a fourth undergraduate year. The degree of Bachelor of Theology for Ministry, which is junior to the B.A. and follows study at undergraduate level, should also be conferred. An exception should be made for the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine, because admission is essential for professional registration and the special regulation for the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (which provides for conferment of the B.Chir. Degree without a Congregation to allow professional registration but permits conferment of the M.B. in Congregation later) does not offer an acceptable solution.
With the exception for the Vet.M.B. Degree as noted above, a degree that does not follow study as an undergraduate or affiliated student or at an equivalent level or standing in the University should not be conferrable at these Congregations (other than in exceptional circumstances approved by the Vice-Chancellor as under the present regulation). If there should be a significant decline in the number of graduands attending in future the matter should be reviewed again, but at present the Master of Law Degree should no longer be conferred at General Admission and as candidacy for the Bachelor of Music Degree has been suspended for some years it should also be deleted from the regulation governing access to conferral on this occasion.
Having consulted the Faculty Boards of Law and Music, the Senate-House Syndics, and the Heads and Praelectors of the Colleges most directly affected by the changes, the Council is satisfied that the amendments present the most equitable arrangement, but it is willing to defer the introduction of the changes until June 2018 in order to allow time for affected Colleges to make necessary adjustments to their own arrangements. The Vice-Chancellor has also agreed to allow the M.C.L. Degree to be conferred at General Admission in June 2016 and 2017.
The Council is submitting a Grace to the Regent House to amend Regulation 15(a) for the Presentation of Candidates for Degrees (p. 395).
Grace 9 associated with the Second Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on new pay and grading arrangements for non-clinical staff (Reporter, 6002, 2004–05, p. 745) provides for the Council to publish at least annually (i) anonymized statistical information about the number of non-clinical staff on each step of the single spine, for the institution as a whole and by School (or equivalent), according to staff category, grade, and gender; and (ii) anonymized information by School (or equivalent), according to staff category, grade, and gender, of additional payments made under the regulations for payments additional to stipend, but excluding payments for clinical responsibility.
Accordingly the Council now publishes information for 2014–15 showing in the tables below the payments that have been made. All data is as at 31 July 2015.
Tables 1–9 show the number of non-clinical staff on each step of the single spine by grade and gender for (a) academic including research staff and (b) academic-related and assistant staff. Table 1 shows the data for the institution as a whole. Tables 2–9 show the data by School (or equivalent). In each table contribution points on the single spine are shaded.
Table 10(a) shows total staff in receipt of a pensionable or non-pensionable payment made under the regulations for payments additional to stipend for each School (or equivalent) including a gender breakdown.
Tables 10(b) and (c) show, respectively, the pensionable and non-pensionable payments made by payment type, under the regulations for payments additional to stipend, across the University as a whole including a gender breakdown.
Tables 10(d) and (e) show, respectively, the pensionable and non-pensionable payments grouped by payment type, under the regulations for payments additional to stipend, across each School (or equivalent) including gender breakdown.
It should be noted that the data published in Tables 10(a)–(e) has been anonymized to protect individuals from potential identification in accordance with data protection principles.
Table 12 shows total staff in receipt of a bonus payment by bonus range, grade, and staff category across each School (or equivalent) including gender breakdown.
Grace 7 associated with the Second Joint Report (Reporter, 6002, 2004–05, p. 745) provides for the Council to publish anonymized statistical information on all awards of market supplements at least annually by staff category, grade, gender, and School (or equivalent).
Under the arrangements introduced by the Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on amendments to the pay and grading scheme for non-clinical staff implemented following the Second Joint Report of 25 July 2005 (Reporter, 6302, 2012–13, p. 423), the Council and the General Board recommended that the awarding of market supplements was brought to an end and a new system of market pay and advanced contribution supplements was introduced.
Market pay replaced market supplements with effect from 1 January 2014. For the reporting period 2014–15 the data show market pay, market supplements, and advanced contribution supplements.
Accordingly, the Council publishes below information for 2014–15 on market supplements, market pay awards, and advanced contribution supplements.
Table 11(a) shows the total number of staff in receipt of market supplements.
Table 11(b) shows the total number of staff in receipt of market pay awards.
Table 11(c) shows the total number of staff in receipt of advanced contribution supplements.
Table 11(d) shows the number of staff newly awarded market pay in 2014–15.
Table 11(e) shows the number of staff newly awarded advanced contribution supplements in 2014–15.
In order to ensure appropriate scrutiny, accountability, and transparency in the award of market pay, applications concerning non-academic staff are approved by the Registrary in consultation with the HR Division, and those concerning academic staff are approved by the Vice Chancellor, or a nominated deputy, in consultation with HR Division. Where an award exceeds 10% of the lowest salary point of the grade the HR Committee or Remuneration Committee of the Council (REMCO) is also asked to approve the award.
Staff grades, additional payments, and market supplements - as at 31 July 2015: Tables