Council Minutes 7 July 2022

Minutes of the Meeting of Cardiff University Council held on Thursday 7 July at 14:00 in Function Space 6.35, SPARK Building, Maindy Road, Cardiff, and via Zoom.

Present: Patrick Younge (Chair), Vice-Chancellor, Angie Flores Acuna, Professor Rudolf Allemann, Professor Rachel Ashworth, Paul Baston, Ricardo Calil, Gina Dunn, Judith Fabian, Michael Hampson [Minutes 2048-2062], Christopher Jones, Jan Juillerat [Minutes 2048-2068], Suzanne Rankin, John Shakeshaft, Judge Ray Singh, Dr Janet Wademan, Professor Damian Walford Davies, Agnes Xavier-Phillips.

Attendees: Professor Pete Burnap [Minute 2055], Katy Dale [Minutes], Ruth Davies, Bruna Gil [Minutes 2048-2058], Rashi Jain, Sue Midha, Dr Elid Morris [Minute 2061], Claire Morgan [Minutes 2058-2072], Claire Sanders [Minutes 2048-2069], Darren Xiberras and Professor Roger Whitaker.

2048 Welcome

2048.1  All were welcomed to the meeting especially Angie Flores Acuna (new student member), Suzanne Rankin (new lay member) and Professor Roger Whitaker (new Pro Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation and Enterprise) who were attending their first meeting; Gina Dunn was also welcomed to the meeting in her new role as the Students’ Union President.

2049 Apologies for Absence

2049.1  Apologies were received from Professor Marc Buehner, Professor Dame Janet Finch, Professor Ken Hamilton, Dr Joanna Newman, Dr Pretty Sagoo and David Simmons.

2050 Declarations of interest

Noted

2050.1  Suzanne Rankin confirmed in relation to agenda item 34 [Report on Joint Ventures] that they were on the board of the Welsh Wound Innovation Centre and Cardiff Medicentre;

2050.2   Dr Janet Wademan confirmed in relation to agenda item 26 [Lay Member Appointments and Pro-Chancellor Reappointment] that they knew a proposed candidate but had not discussed the application process with them;

2050.3   that there was a conflict of interest for Gina Dunn and Angie Flores Acuna in relation to agenda item 26 [Students’ Union Financial Agreement 2021/22 Review].

2051 Minutes of Previous Meeting

Received and considered papers 21/885C ‘Council 28 April 2022’ and 21/884C ’08 June 2022’. The Chair spoke to this item.

Noted

2051.1  that it was proposed minute 2030.6 of the minutes of 28 April 2022 be amended to read “basket of metrics” as opposed to “basket of measures”, given the other minutes for this item referred to metrics;

2051.2  that it was proposed to remove a question mark included under minute 2031.3 of the minutes of 28 April 2022 as this was believed to be an error;

2051.3  that phrases in the minutes such as “it was felt” or “it was believed” should be avoided in future when referring to a committee’s view.

Resolved

2051.4  to approve the minutes of the meetings of 28 April 2022 and 08 June 2022, subject to the amendments detailed in minutes 2051.1-2051.2.

2052 Matters Arising from the Minutes

Received and considered paper 21/888 ‘Matters Arising’. The Chair spoke to this item.

Noted

2052.1 that all actions were either underway, complete, or covered via the agenda.

2053 Items from the Chair

Received paper 21/883, ‘Chair’s Action Since the Last Meeting’.

Noted

2053.1  that the HEFCW Council visit had taken place on Wednesday 06 July and had been positive;

2053.2  that the Council membership of the Joint Committee of Council and Senate was confirmed as Professor Dame Janet Finch, Jan Juillerat and John Shakeshaft; names for the external fourth member to be appointed by Council were being discussed with the external recruiters to ensure potential candidates were not approached; three members of the Senate membership of the Joint Committee had been confirmed and a ballot was being undertaken to determine the fourth Senate member; the Chair and Vice-Chair of Council had also been meeting with stakeholder groups in relation to the recruitment activity.

2054 Finance Report

Received and considered paper 21/863C, ‘Financial Report (Financial Management Accounts)’. The Chief Financial Officer spoke to this item.

Noted

2054.1  [Redacted]

2054.2  [Redacted]

2054.3  [Redacted]

2054.4  [Redacted]

2054.5 that it was noted there was a culture of developing cautious deficit budgets leading to significantly better year end results;

2054.6 that the new external auditors had provided details of benchmark data for financial statements of HE institutions for the 2020/21 financial year; this would be shared with Council members.

Resolved

2054.7  to share the financial statements benchmarking data with Council members.

2055 Proposal for a Cyber Innovation Hub (CIH)

Received and considered paper 21/879C ‘Proposal for a Cyber Innovation Hub (CIH)’. The Pro Vice-Chancellor for International and Student Recruitment and College of Physical Sciences and Engineering and Professor Pete Burnap spoke to this item.

Noted

2055.1  that Professor Pete Burnap joined the meeting to speak to this item;

2055.2  that the project aimed to support the next generation of cyber security ideas and develop academic research into projects and services, through start-ups and professional development;

2055.3  that the project brought together academic, commercial and industry partners in the local area;

2055.4  that the project would be mainly funded through government income; the University investment would be primarily “in-kind” through the provision of staffing and facilities; it was hoped the project would become self-funding after the initial 5 years;

2055.5 that the proposals had been carefully reviewed and included finance and legal colleagues to advise on these aspects of the project; external legal advice had also been sought in relation to the establishment and running of the SPV;

2055.6 that the proposal had been endorsed by the Finance & Resources Committee;

2055.7 that the consortium model had been chosen to garner expertise and experience regarding what made projects successful and lessons learnt; the project also provided a good investment opportunity in cyber security;

2055.8 that it was noted the School of Computer Science and Informatics had previously struggled with staffing levels and there had been some low NSS scores in relation to the National Software Academy in Newport; it was hoped that this project would benefit the school and wider University, and attract staff, students, investors and entrepreneurs;

2055.9  that professional services support for the project had also been included within the proposal;

2055.10 that the project would have space within central Cardiff and that space within the sbarc I spark building had also been suggested, to allow for sharing of advice and ideas;

2055.11 that the project was keen to help address issues around equality and diversity within the cyber industry and help address the perception of cyber security professionals;

2055.12 that the project would help put Wales at the forefront of the sector globally and it was hoped that Cardiff would become a hub for cyber technology and skills;

2055.13 Council emphasised the need to ensure scenario planning had been undertaken and included within any agreements, to ensure future-proofing, and that the General Counsel and University Secretary was included in future discussions around the project.

Resolved

2055.14  to approve the proposal of the Cardiff University-led bid Cyber Innovation Hub to Cardiff Capital Region City Deal and Welsh Government, recognising the operational challenges and reputational risks of leading the programme.

2055.15 to approve that further oversight and final approval of further iterations of the proposal should be delegated to the Vice-Chancellor, who may further delegate to the Pro Vice-Chancellor Research, Innovation & Enterprise and the Pro Vice-Chancellor International and Student Recruitment, Head of the College of Physical Sciences & Engineering, in liaison with the Chief Financial Officer and Research and Innovation Services.

Professor Pete Burnap left the meeting.

2056 Investment Plan Updates – Capital Investment Plan 2018-23 and Short Term Investment Plan 2021-23

Received and considered paper 21/861C, ‘Investment Plan Updates – Capital Investment Plan 2018-23 and Short Term Investment Plan 2021-23’. The Chief Financial Officer spoke to this item.

Noted

2056.1  [Redacted]

2056.2  that it was intended to produce cash surpluses in future years for investment;

2056.3  that at present, no project was expected to exceed its budget;

2056.4  that a number of projects were continuing to be developed and would be brought forward for approval for funding from the STIP.

2057 University Budget 2022/23

Received and considered paper 21/784C ‘Proposed Budget for 2022/23, Financial Projections for 2023/24, 2024/25, 2025/26’. The Chief Financial Officer spoke to this item.

Noted

2057.1  [Redacted]

2057.2  [Redacted]

2057.3  that there were a number of costs pressures, namely the current rate of inflation;

2057.4  [Redacted]

2057.5  that there were process and cultural challenges around timing and being able to forecast a realistic budget;

2057.6  that the research grant figures were realistic as they were based on activities already in the pipeline;

2057.7 that discussion around increased pay costs would be covered under agenda item 11 [Vice-Chancellor’s Report];

2057.8  that it was suggested the STIP costs are bought “above the line” in future iterations to present a more accurate budgetary position.

Resolved

2057.9  to approve the proposed budget for 2022/23 and for future iterations to include STIP costs above the line.

2058 Vice-Chancellor’s report to Council

Received and considered paper 21/905C, ‘Vice-Chancellor’s Report to Council’. The Vice-Chancellor spoke to this item.

Noted

2058.1  that the University remained cautious with respect to the achievement of UK PGT recruitment targets;

2058.2   that an agreement had been reached to avoid a marking and assessment boycott but that it had been confirmed that a further ballot would be held in relation to Industrial Action in the new academic year;

2058.3  that paper 21/953HC was tabled, which proposed a one-off bonus pro-rata payment to staff of £750, to recognise the extra effort required due to the ongoing impacts of the pandemic; this would cost c.£5m which was affordable given the current predicted surplus; this was not linked to the cost of living crisis, as that would be reflected in the pay negotiations; Council were very supportive of this payment; it was noted this proposal should not be shared further until it was announced publicly;

2058.4   [Redacted]

2058.5   that the costs pressures increased the importance of ensuring good recruitment of international students;

2058.6  [Redacted]

2058.7  that Council welcomed the statement on the University being an anti-racist institution;

2058.8   that there was confidence the final international student figures would be positive; there remained issues with students being able to travel from China and the University had met with the Ambassador to China to review possible solutions;

2058.9  that the University continued to work locally to support Ukrainian refugees and had also set up partnerships with Ukrainian universities to reduce the impact of any “brain drain”;

2058.10  that the drop in research applications was not seen as an area of concern, as these were often volatile.

Resolved

2058.11  to approve the proposal for a one-off bonus payment to staff.

Bruna Gil left the meeting.

2059 Student View

Received and considered paper 21/833, ‘The Student View 2022’. The Students’ Union President spoke to this item.

Noted

2059.1  that the format of the Student View had been slightly amended and, rather than suggesting partnership projects, presented recommendations which it was hoped could be used to embed partnership working and change within existing structures of the University and Students’ Union; it was also proposed to report on Student View items throughout the year as they arose, as opposed to solely at the end of the academic year;

2059.2  that the four key themes were Blended Learning; User Experience of Student Connect; Study Space and Campus Opening Times; and Industrial Action;

2059.3  that there was a recommendation to improve communications around Student Connect and make services more personable where possible;

2059.4  students had appreciated the longer opening hours across the campus and it was hoped this could be expanded in some areas, where there was capacity to do so; it was noted this may become more important as the cost of living (including heating) impacted students;

2059.5  that it was proposed any savings made from strike action or action short of a strike be re-invested into the student experience;

2059.6  that there was no consensus over whether students preferred teaching online or in-person but feedback had agreed this should be accessible for all;

2059.7 that Council welcomed the document and revised format;

2059.8  that the Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience extended their thanks to the Students’ Union for the document and noted that a formal response would be brought to Council in November; it was noted that work had already commenced in many areas referenced in the report;

2059.9  that the Student View gathered student input from a variety of sources, activities and events to ensure it included as many students as possible.

Resolved

2059.10 to review the Student View for topics to include for the agendas of Away Days in the next academic year.

2060 Student Experience

Received and considered paper 21/906 ‘Student Union President’s Report’. The Students’ Union President and Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience spoke to this item.

Noted

2060.1  that the Students’ Union President noted the following from their report:

.1 that the Students’ Union had recovered well from the pandemic, coming 2nd in the ‘WhatUni Student Choice Awards’ for best Students’ Union and being well above benchmark in the NSS questions on the Students’ Union;

.2 that the Enriching Student Life Awards had been held in person and the winners were included in the report;

.3 that the NERD Varsity Societies had won the Collaboration Award at the National Societies and Volunteering Awards;

.4  that the new sabbatical officer team had commenced on 1st July;

2060.2  that communications on the NSS results had been shared with Council members in advance of the meeting and a presentation was delivered by the Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience;

2060.3   that overall satisfaction had increased by 3.3% and was now within benchmark; the UK & Wales sector had increased by 1% and the Russell Group average had declined and so the University had benefited from a sector improving more slowly;

2060.4  that improvements had also been seen in all thematic areas, especially in the learning resources theme, which was very positive;

2060.5   that there had been improvements for a number of subjects (38), though some had reduced (21) and there had been some large shifts which reflected the volatility; Occupational Therapy and Human Geography had dropped below 60% for one year and so were expected to require further monitoring from HEFCW; Economics was an area of concern and the University would be looking at what support and resource this subject needed;

2060.6   that the University had not yet reached the Wales, UK or Russell Group averages

2060.7  that in 2021, 17 indicators had been below benchmark and this had reduced to 8 in 2022; the Students’ Union questions were the only ones above benchmark;

2060.8  that the new Education Performance Oversight Group would meet to review the results and also meet with each College and Professional Services to review their contributions;

2060.9  that the results had been shared with staff via BLAS and work was underway to share good news stories with students when they returned in September;

2060.10  that NSS had been included as an agenda item for meetings of Council in 2022/23; it was also noted that monitoring of current activities (such as assessment and feedback metrics) would help show current shifts, rather than just the retrospective NSS results;

2060.11  that work was underway to improve the Student Voice and ensure the feedback loop was closed;

2060.12 that Council congratulated the Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience and their team on the improvements seen in the results and the schools where improvements had been made.

2061 Taith Update

Received and considered paper 21/866, ‘Taith Update’.

2061.1  that Dr Elid Morris,Head of Operations for Taith, joined the meeting to speak to this item;

2061.2  that the new name ‘Taith’ (meaning journey) had been selected following a public competition;

2061.3  that the strategy and website had been launched in February 2022 and the programme had been based in the sbarc I spark building since April 2022;

2061.4   that three Sector Organising Bodies had been appointed, to raise awareness of the Taith programme and provide training and direct assistance to organisations in their respective sectors;

2061.5   that Pathway 1 was the focus of the majority of funding and centred on inward and outward mobility; Pathways 2 and 3 aimed to support this first pathway through building partnerships and capacity;

2061.6  that a funding call had been issued in March; there had been a lot of interest with over 70 applications across all 6 sectors (schools, youth, higher education, further education, vocational education and training, and adult education); the funding committee would meet imminently to review the applications and make recommendations, with a hope that the first mobilities would take place in September;

2061.7 that the team had been praised by the First Minister for the speed in which the idea for Taith had been made a reality;

2061.8  that funding of £10.83m had been awarded for Phase 3 of Global Wales and Taith were working with Universities UK as the formal award holder;

2061.9 that Taith was a wholly owned subsidiary of Cardiff University and work had been ongoing around the formalities and legalities of funding; the final grant award letter was being finalised and was hoped to be completed imminently;

2061.10  that the programme had commissioned a governance review, as requested by the Welsh Government;

2061.11  that the tender for an IT system had been placed on hold and the interim solution for the call for funding for Pathway 1 would continue to be used for the call for Pathways 2 and 3.

Dr Elid Morris left the meeting.

2062  Institutional Risk Review letter and response

Received and considered paper 21/907C, ‘HEFCW IRR Letter and Response June 2022’. The Vice-Chancellor spoke to this item.

Noted

2062.1  that the initial draft risk review letter had reflected a downgrading in the University’s risk rating to moderate and identified a number of issues to be addressed; the University had replied to this draft letter and had been pleased to see the rating return to low;

2062.2  that Audit & Risk Committee had reviewed the content for the response and had recommended this for approval; the Committee were pleased to see a number of outstanding issues had been completed.

Resolved

2062.3 to approve the document as the basis for the University’s response.

Michael Hampson left the meeting.

2063  Progress Update: Coroner’s Prevention of Future Deaths report November 2021

Received and considered paper 21/908C, ‘Response to HEFCW on Prevention of Future Deaths June 2022’. The University Secretary spoke to this item.

Noted

2063.1  that the University had received a Prevention of Future Deaths Report from the Northwest Wales Coroner in November 2021 regarding a student death determined as suicide; HEFCW had written a letter to the University in March 2022 in relation to this matter;

2063.2   that the paper contained a response to the HEFCW letter noting the enhancements put in place in relation to in-year resists, the communication of exam result and the serious incident framework in order to provide assurance to Council that appropriate action had been undertaken;

2063.3 that Internal Audit were also conducting audits to ensure the actions had been implemented (June 2022), to assess the impact of the actions taken (September 2022); and to review the Serious Incident Framework (June 2022);

2063.4  that the actions taken would reduce the likelihood of a recurrence of similar events but that it was not possible to prevent all student suicides.

Resolved

2063.5  to approve the report as providing assurance that appropriate actions had been taken.

2064  Bristol University Verdict

Received and considered an oral report from the University Secretary

Noted

2064.1 that the verdict was being appealed.

Resolved

2064.2 for a summary report to be circulated to Council members on this item.

2065 Risk Register

Received and considered paper 21/805C, ‘Risk Register’. The Vice-Chancellor spoke to this item.

Noted

2065.1  that the risk in relation to Industrial Action had increased, due to the announcement of a ballot between August and October 2022 on strike action in the new academic year (one in relation to pay and one in relation to pensions);

2065.2 that it was hoped the effort and resource being placed into the mitigating actions for the student welfare and wellbeing risk would start to see the risk in this area reducing.

Resolved

2065.3  to approve the current risks, their score and the mitigating actions as an accurate reflection of the risk profile of the University.

2066 Reporting Key Performance Indicators

Received and considered paper 21/909C, ‘Reporting Key Performance Indicators’. The Vice-Chancellor spoke to this item.

Noted

2066.1  that the paper proposed a set of slightly updated KPIs which would be reported to Council regularly; an update on current progress was also included;

2066.2  that changes to previously agreed KPIs had been included in the paper (e.g. the removal of aiming to be in the Top 12 for REF, given this was the previous indicator and would be updated for the next REF cycle, and the updated research income KPI);

2066.3 that a KPI had included targeting an operating surplus;

2066.4 that it was suggested a RAG rating is included in future reports;

2066.5  that it would also be of benefit to consider the tolerances that would be acceptable for each KPI (e.g. if a 5% or 10% over or under achievement would be acceptable);

2066.6  that it was difficult to compare research grants KPIs to other comparative institutions, as the University received funding through WEFO and UKRI and so was not directly comparable to English universities.

Resolved

2066.7  to approve the return to full reporting of an enhanced set of Key Performance Indicators in the next academic year and include this item on future Council agendas, with a detailed KPI reported at each meeting to include key messages and standardised language.

2067 Report from Redundancy Committee to Council

Received and considered paper 21/887C, ‘Redundancy Committee Report to Council’. The Director of Human Resources spoke to this item.

Noted

2067.1 that the paper requested approval from Council in relation to proposed staff changes from October 2022 which required the application of Statute XV;

2067.2  that the paper requested approval of the procedure in relation to fixed term and open ended with relevant factor contracted staff and the agreement to establish a Redundancy Committee to review such terminations; it also requested authority be delegated to the Chair of Council or, in their absence, Vice-Chair of Council to approve recommendations of the Redundancy Committee and for the Director of HR to issue the necessary notices.

Resolved

2067.3  to approve the procedure in relation to the two applicable categories of staff (as detailed in this paper) for 12 months from October 2022;

2067.4  to determine that it is desirable that there be a reduction in the academic staff in relation to the projected contract terminations of the two applicable categories of academic staff across the University over the following year from 1 October 2022;

2067.5  to set up Redundancy Committees to consider such terminations; the membership of such Committees will be determined to be any lay member of Council, plus a pool of nominated members of Senate; the Committees convened for this purpose shall be chaired by the Deputy Vice Chancellor, or a nominee from the Pro Vice-Chancellors;

2067.6   to delegate to the Chair or, in their absence, Vice Chair of Council the authority under paragraph 11(2) of Part I of Statute XV, to either approve any selection recommendation made by the Redundancy Committee under sub-section (1), or to remit it to the Redundancy Committee for further consideration in accordance with their further directions; a report on such decisions to be made to the next ordinary meeting of Council (2.1);

2067.7  to delegate authority under paragraph 12(1) of Part I of Statute XV to the Director of Human Resources to issue dismissal notices following a decision taken on behalf of Council by the Chair or Vice Chair of Council (2.2).

2068 Lay Member Appointment & Pro-Chancellor Re-Appointment

Received and considered papers 21/911C, ‘Lay Member Appointment & Pro-Chancellor Re-Appointment’ and 21/918C ‘Short Biographies of the Recommended Candidates’. The Chair spoke to this item.

Resolved

2068.1  to re-appoint Reverend Canon Gareth Powell for a second term as a Pro-Chancellor, from 01 August 2022 to 31 July 2025;

2068.2  to appoint David Selway and Jennifer Wood as lay members of Council, from 01 August 2022 to 31 July 2025; to also appoint David Selway to Governance Committee and Jennifer Wood to Finance & Resources Committee, from 01 August 2022 to 31 July 2025;

2068.3  to appoint Suzanne Rankin to Audit & Risk Committee, from 01 August 2022 to 31 July 2025;

2068.4  to appoint Michael Hampson to Remuneration Committee, from 01 August 2022 to 31 July 2024 (in line with him term on Council);

2068.5  to appoint Robert Weaver as a non-Council lay member of Audit & Risk Committee, from 1 August 2022 until 31 July 2025;

2068.6 for the Chair of Council to write to lay members of Council in relation to the vacancies on the Redundancy Committee and Students’ Union Board of Trustees;

2068.7 to appoint Rhian Hutchings as a non-Council lay member of Open Research, Integrity and Ethics Committee with effect from 1 August 2022 until 31 July 2025.

Jan Juillerat left the meeting.

2069 Teaching Excellence Framework

Received and considered paper 21/892, ‘Teaching Excellent Framework (TEF)’. The Pro Vice-Chancellor Education and Student Experience spoke to this item.

2069.1 that the University had formulated draft data on TEF and noted that, although it performed well on outcomes, it performed poorly on student experience; this was already known through other indicators (e.g. NSS) and so it was not proposed to enter into this iteration of TEF, which would enable resource to be focussed on making improvements for the next iteration; this would be reviewed again based on October’s data;

2069.2 that TEF was not compulsory in Wales or Scotland and, at present, only Bangor University and Swansea University  had indicated  they may engage with the return;

2069.3  that TEF was not linked to income and the outcome did not seem to influence student recruitment in the same way as other external measures such as REF.

Claire Sanders left the meeting.

2070  Any Other Business

Noted

2070.1  that thanks were extended for the following outgoing members of Council for their service:

• David Simmons
• Judge Ray Singh
• Dr Janet Wademan
• Professor Kenneth Hamilton
• Ricardo Calil

2070.2  that thanks were also extended to Bruna Gil, the outgoing Governor Apprentice.

2071 Items Received for approval

Resolved

2071.1   to approve the following papers:

• 21/910      Scheme of Delegation Tranche #1
• 21/874C    Financial Regulations
• 21/875C    Delegation of Financial Authority Framework
• 21/864HC Students’ Union Financial Agreement 2021/22 Review
• 21/717      Trustee Benefits Policy – Annual Review
• 21/771      Changes to Ordinances
• 21/912C    External Auditors Terms of Appointment

2072 Items Received for Information

Noted

• 21/913C    Chair’s Report from Audit & Risk Committee
• 21/914C    Serious Incident Reporting Framework 2022 Update to Council
• 21/800C    Annual Audit Strategy 2022/23
• 21/886C    F&RC Chair’s Report to Council
• 21/903C    HR Dashboard Summary
• 21/870C    Annual Report on Joint Ventures
• 21/862C    CIC Update
• 21/902C    Report from Chair of Governance Committee
• 21/782      Council Training and Induction Programme 2022/23
• 21/891C    Senate Report to Council
• 21/834C    Update on Court and Engagement with Stakeholders
• 21/839      Partnership with Dalian University of Technology
• 21/840      International Civic Mission Partnership with University of Namibia
• 21/843      Emeritus & Emerita Titles Awarded since 1 April 2021
• 21/890      Sealing Transactions
• 21/889      Schedule of Committee Business for the Year 2022/23 v2