The Council

COUN09-M4

Minutes of the (Special) meeting of the University Council held on Thursday 9 July 2009.

Members:

Sir Bryan Carsberg (Chair); Dr Memis Acar (ab); Dr Jo Aldridge; John Blackwell; Dr Anja Baumhoff; Penny Coates; Brian Dent; Gifty Edila; Sir John Gains; Marc Gibson; Professor Neil Halliwell; Norma Honey; Sir John Jennings; Jim Murphy; Jim Mutton (ab); Professor Ric Parker (ab); Professor Richard Parry-Jones; Professor Shirley Pearce; Simon Proffitt; Professor Ian Reid; Jackie Strong; Nigel Tamplin; Alan A Woods; Dr Dominic Wring (ab).

In attendance:

Rob Allan; Professor Morag Bell; Peter Davenport; Professor Phill Dickens; Professor Peter Golding; Professor Terry Kavanagh; Dr Jennifer Nutkins; Professor Ken Parsons; Miranda Routledge; Will Spinks; Professor Tony Thorpe; Jon Walker; Caroline Walker; Phil Wilkinson-Blake

Apologies for absence were received from:

Dr Memis Acar; Jim Mutton; Professor Ric Parker; Dr Dominic Wring

09/59 Minutes

Minutes of the (Special) Meeting of Council held on 27 March 2009 [COUN09-M2] were CONFIRMED.

09/60 Honorary Degrees

COUN09-P94 (tabed)

Pursuant to Statute XVIII, on the recommendation of Senate and with the advice of the Honorary Degrees Committee, Council APPROVED the issuing of invitations to persons to receive Honorary Degrees at Graduation Ceremonies.

09/61 Remuneration Committee

Council RECEIVED a verbal report from the Chair of Council on the latest meeting of the Remuneration Committee. Decisions regarding senior staff salaries had been taken in the context of the difficult financial climate. However, it had been possible to recognise strong performance and Council was reassured that a good outcome had been achieved. The Committee had spent a considerable amount of time discussing the implications of the government’s most recent policy regarding taxation on pensions. This was a very complex area and likely to affect some members of staff.

09/62 Human Resources Committee

COUN09-P95

Council RECEIVED a report of the meeting of the Human Resources Committee (HRC) held on 11 June 2009.

09/62.1 Amendments to the Conditions of Service for Academic and Academic-Related staff.

COUN09-P96: APPROVED

09/62.2 Delegated Authority from Council to Human Resources Committee

COUN09-P97

HRC had proposed that authority for approving simple changes to Conditions of Service, arising from legislative or administrative requirements be delegated to HRC with a view to speeding up decision-making. Senate had discussed the proposal at its meeting on 1 July and felt that, rather than delegation to HRC, it would be more appropriate to delegate authority for approving such changes to the Chairs of Senate and Council. It was therefore this revised proposal that Council was asked to consider.

The Chief Operating Officer confirmed that all contentious changes and/or changes that required amendments to Charter or Statutes would continue to require full Senate and Council approval. All proposed changes to Conditions of Service were discussed through the various staff negotiating groups. It was confirmed that any changes not approved by all three groups would be considered contentious and have to come through the full approval route. On this basis Council AGREED to delegate authority for non-contentious changes to Conditions of Service to the Chairs of Senate and Council.

09/62.3 Annual Report of the Equality and Diversity Sub-Committee

COUN09-P98: RECEIVED

09/62.4 Amendments to the Child Protection Policy

COUN09-P99: APPROVED

09/62.5 Award of the title or Emeritus Professor: APPROVED

09/63 Chair’s Action

Council NOTED that the Chair had taken action between meetings to approve:

Appointment of Professor Ken Parsons as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) until 31 July 2012
Re-appointment of Professor Morag Bell as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Teaching) until 31 July 2012
Appointment of Professor Chris Linton as Dean of Science until 31 July 2012

09/64 Special Leave

COUN09-P100

Council RECEIVED the annual report of staff taking more than three months Special Leave.

09/65 Staffing

COUN09-P101

Council NOTED appointments since Meeting of Council held on 28 November 2008.

09/66 Reports of Committees

Council RECEIVED reports from the following Committees:

09/66.1 Operations Committee – 16 March, 3 April, 1 and 22 May and 8 June 2009 [COUN09-P102]

09/66.2 Senate – 1 July 2009 [COUN09-P103]

09/67 Dates of Meetings in 2009/10

Council NOTED the dates for meetings in 2009/10 as follows:

· Friday 9 October 2009 – as part of the Joint Meeting of Senate and Council to review the University Strategy

· Friday, 27 November 2009

· Friday, 19 March 2010

· Thursday, 8 July 2010

09/68 Valedictory

Council recorded its thanks to Norma Honey and Marc Gibson for whom this had been the last meeting. Both were thanked individually for the contributions they had made to the Council, and to the wider University. Thanks were also recorded to Professor Peter Golding for his service as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and in particular for his contributions towards the outstanding RAE outcome.