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Subject

ALL HIGHLIGHTED TEXT IS FOR GUIDANCE ONLY AND SHOULD BE DELETED.

Replace this text with the title/purpose of the paper.

Origin

Replace this text with the person/department/committee/role etc that has originated the paper

Strategic objective met

Replace this text with a reference to the aspect(s) of University strategy the paper contributes to. (Alternatively, this may be an external driver (e.g. legal, regulatory compliance, etc.))

Committee Action Required

What action does the Committee need to take: Consider / Approve / Note

Judgement is needed on how best to use the basic committee paper template, depending on the nature of the item. Authors should consider carefully:

The audience of the paper

Readers’ likely background knowledge of the matter

How much time they are likely to have to read the paper, and

Be very clear about what the committee is being asked to do.

Papers should also make clear which previous sub-committees, groups or individuals have already discussed the content or contributed to its development.

Pages should always be numbered for ease of reference for committee members during the meeting.

Longer papers (more than 2 pages long)

If the item is complex and considerable contextual information is required, an executive summary should be included which summarises the content of the paper in no more than a third of a page (ideally less).

References to background papers (e.g. previous committee papers or external web documents) may be used to reduce length whilst providing access to relevant information. This approach needs to be used thoughtfully and in a way which means the paper is still intelligible as a free standing document.

Papers should always be as concise as possible whilst setting out the key points in sufficient detail that they are understandable by the audience. If a paper is unavoidably long, the author should consider carefully the best order in which to present the information and structure the paper logically to help the reader understand the content as quickly and easily as possible. Use of clear sub-headings, diagrams and tables is encouraged where this aids clarity. Bullet points may be used but also consider whether the points should be numbered, as if a committee member wants to refer to a specific point, it is easier for other members to find it if it is numbered.

If a paper has already been considered by one committee and is being recommended for approval to a higher level committee (with or without substantive amendments), the origin of the paper should be the committee which has already considered the paper, not the original author, so it is clear the authority on which the paper is being considered by the higher committee. The formal committee paper coversheet should be used to indicate the committee/sub-committee which has already considered the paper and the paper can then be attached with the original author’s name included. For more information follow this link to the Committee Cover sheet.

Example of numbering:

Heading

Paragraph numbering

Paragraph numbering

Sub-point