Chapter 2: Statement of Primary
Responsibilities
Primary responsibilities of the Council
1.
Statute
A IV 1 defines the primary responsibilities of the Council as follows:
a.
The Council shall be the principal executive and
policy-making body of the University. The Council shall have general
responsibility for the administration of the University, for the planning of
its work, and for the management of its resources; it shall have power to take
such action as is necessary for it to discharge these responsibilities. It
shall also perform such other executive and administrative duties as may be
delegated to it by the Regent House or assigned to it by Statute or Ordinance.
b.
The Council shall have the right of reporting to the University.
It shall advise the Regent House on matters of general concern to the
University.
c.
The Council shall make an Annual Report to the University, and
shall initiate and submit a Grace for the approval of the Report by the Regent
House.
d.
The Council shall have the power of initiating and submitting
Graces to the Regent House and to the Senate. The procedure for the submission
of Graces shall be prescribed by Special Ordinance.
e.
The Council shall oversee the work of all those institutions in
the University which are placed under its supervision, and shall ensure that
the University officers assigned to those institutions are satisfactorily
performing the duties and fulfilling the conditions of tenure of their offices
Details of how the Council fulfils its primary
responsibilities
2.
In order to fulfil its primary responsibilities,
the Council:
a.
through its Finance
Committee, its Audit
Committee and the Planning
and Resources Committee (a joint committee with the
General Board) ensures the University's accountability for the proper use of
public funds;
b.
supervises the financial position of
the University through its Finance
Committee;
c.
arranges audit through its Audit
Committee;
d.
conducts legal business as well as
ethical and reputational scrutiny, especially in respect
of the acceptance of philanthropic and other
funding and investment responsibility, through its Committee
on Benefactions and External and Legal Affairs (CBELA);
e.
discharges its responsibilities in
relation to the University as an employer through the Human Resources Committee (HRC), a
joint committee with the General
Board;
f.
develops University policy on the
advice of the General
Board and that of specialist advisory bodies;
a. conducts
planning and resource allocation through the Planning
and Resources Committee (PRC), which is a joint committee
with the General Board, and the Resource
Management Committee (RMC), which reports through
the PRC;
g. manages the University’s operational estate through the
Estates Committee (a joint committee with the General Board) and on the
advice of the Finance Committee;
h.
informs and advises the Regent House
through Reports, Notices and Graces, and through considering remarks made at
Discussions;
i.
conducts the University's relations
with Government, the OfS, other national bodies, and local and regional bodies;
j.
supports and advises the
Vice-Chancellor and the Pro-Vice-Chancellors;
k.
supervises University institutions
placed under its supervision, particularly through receiving reports, and also
through the PRC and
the HRC;
l.
through the Press and Assessment
Board has oversight and exercises supervision of Cambridge University Press
& Assessment;
m.
through the Finance
Committee exercises financial and some other supervision of
University-owned companies and some free-standing bodies such as the Cambridge
scholarship trusts;
n.
pursuant to Act of Parliament,
discharges responsibilities for Cambridge Students’ Union recognised by the University
through its Council Committee for the Supervision of the Student Union;
o.
makes (or recommends) senior
appointments (including the Vice-Chancellor, Pro-Vice-Chancellors and the
Registrary) and, through its Standing Appointments Committee established by
Ordinance, Directors and other senior staff in the Unified Administrative
Service;
p.
monitors risk management, emergency
management and value for money surveillance;
q.
monitors the implementation of major
projects, through the Finance
Committee and the Property Board (in relation to the
University’s non-operational estate), the Information
Services Committee, and other special groups;
r.
through the work of the Information
Services Committee, monitors the provision of IT infrastructure and support;
s.
keeps University governance and
similar matters under review;
t.
makes an annual report to
the University, as required under the University’s Statutes;
u.
monitors its own performance and
effectiveness.
Consulting the Regent House on
matters which are likely to prove controversial
3.
In 2020, the Council
published the following statement of intention: In carrying out their
functions as the principal executive and policy-making body of the University the Council will
consult the Regent House on questions of policy which in the Council’s
judgement are likely to prove controversial. They will do this by submitting a
Grace to the Regent House for the approval of a provisional decision or
statement of intention; where appropriate, such a Grace will allow for the
expression of a preference between alternative options. The Council will give
consideration to remarks made at any Discussion of such matters and to the
outcome of any vote on them.