Council Regulations 14 of 2002

1.1. These regulations shall apply to any "committee" of the University as defined in section 6 (3) of Statute I.

1.2. The person taking the chair at any committee meeting shall, in the absence of provision to the contrary in any statute or regulation, have a second or casting vote in the event of equality of voting.

1.3. (1) A vacancy about to be caused by lapse of time in any committee shall, in the absence of provision to the contrary in any statute or regulation, be filled by the appointing or electing body in the term before the vacancy will arise, and the person appointed or elected shall enter office on the first day of the following term.

(2) (a) A vacancy caused otherwise than by lapse of time shall be filled as soon as may be after the occurrence of the vacancy.

(b) The person appointed or elected shall enter office immediately upon appointment or election, and shall, in the absence of provision to the contrary in any statute or regulation, hold office for the unexpired residue only of the period of office of the person whom he or she replaces.

1.4. If at any time a vacancy arises in any committee through an appointing or electing body having failed to make an appointment or, in the case of an election, through insufficient nominations having been received by the due date or for any other reason, the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors shall appoint a person to the vacancy.

1.5. Existing membership of all committees shall terminate automatically on taking office as Proctor or Assessor.

1.6. When a person other than the Vice- Chancellor, a Proctor or the Assessor becomes by virtue of holding any office a member of a committee of which he or she was an appointed or elected member, he or she shall be deemed to have resigned from his or her former place.

2.1. These regulations shall apply to committees reporting directly to Council or to one of its main standing committees ("Main Committees").

2.2. (1) Appointed, elected and co-opted members of committees of Council, other than student members, shall, in the absence of an alternative provision in these regulations or Council Regulations 15 of 2002 to the contrary, serve for three years.

(2) Student members shall, in the absence of an alternative provision in these regulations or Council Regulations 15 of 2002 to the contrary, serve for one year.

(3) Where it is a condition of an appointment that the person appointed is a member of Council or another committee, the period of appointment shall coincide with the appointee's known membership of the latter, provided that the period does not exceed the maximum term allowed.

(4) In the absence of provision in these regulations or Council Regulations 15 of 2002 to the contrary, appointed, elected, co-opted and student members shall serve no more than two consecutive full terms of office. Casual terms of office shall not count towards this limit.

(5) In the absence of provision to the contrary, an appointed, elected, co-opted or student member of a committee of Council, who has served two consecutive full terms of office under regulation (4) above, shall not be eligible to serve as an appointed, elected, co-opted or student member of that committee until a full term of office on that committee has passed from the end of his or her period of service.

(6) Notwithstanding regulations (4) and (5) above, in the case of appointed, co-opted and student members, the General Purposes Committee of Council or, in cases falling within the People Committee's delegated authority or cases concerning the membership of the General Purposes Committee, the Chair of the People Committee, may determine that one further consecutive period is permitted in an individual case.

2.3. The participation by student members in the business of committees of Council shall be subject to the same conditions (with any necessary substitutions) as are prescribed for the student member representatives at meetings of Council under regulations 4-11 of the Regulations for Council.

2.4. (1) Committees of Council shall be responsible under Council for such matters as Council lays down under the provisions of sections 23-26 of Statute VI.

(2) They shall make reports and recommendations to Council as they consider appropriate, subject to such policies and guidelines as Council lays down by regulation or otherwise.

2.5. (1) Each committee of Council shall carry out a self-review of its composition, operations and effectiveness

(a) shortly after its first year in existence;

(b) at least every five years; and

(c) shortly after its first year with a revised remit, where the responsibilities have been substantially changed.

(2) A review under regulation 2.5 (1) above shall include consideration by the committee of whether or not to retain each of its sub-committees or panels (if any).

(3) On completion of a review under regulation 2.5 (1) above, the committee shall report its findings and any recommendations arising out of the review to Council or, where appropriate, to the main committee of Council to which it reports.

2.6. (1) No business shall be transacted at any meeting of a committee reporting directly to Council or one of its main committees unless a quorum is present.

(2) In the absence of provision in these regulations or Council Regulations 15 of 2002 for a larger quorum, a quorum is one-third of those members eligible to vote upon the business of the committee in question (rounded to the nearest integer).

(3) A member who is participating in a meeting by telephone, video-conference or any other means of communication which permits all members simultaneously to hear one another, shall be considered present and therefore shall count towards the quorum.

2.7. If:(1) a quorum is not present within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting; or

(2) during a meeting a quorum ceases to be present,

the business or remaining business of that meeting shall be deferred to another meeting, whether already scheduled or to be scheduled, or shall be dealt with by the chair acting under delegated authority in accordance with the committee's standing orders.

2.8. (1) Each main committee of Council shall, and any other committee of Council may, lay down the procedure for the conduct of their business by standing order.

(2) Each main committees of Council shall also follow any principles set out by Council by standing order for the handling of business by Council's committees.