Investment Committee Standing Orders
Legislation and background
1 The Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 established the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council. Schedule 1 of the Act makes provision for certain administrative and other matters with respect to the Council, including the establishment of committees.
2 Schedule 1 states that:
- the Council may establish committees for any purposes relating to its functions [section 13];
- the Council is to determine the composition of its committees, the terms and conditions of committee membership, and the procedure (including any quorum) of its committees [section 14(1)];
- any of the committees of the Council may include persons who are not members of the Council [section 14(2)];
- the Council is to pay to the members of its committees (whether or not they are also members of the Council) such allowances as the Scottish Ministers may determine [section 14(3)]; and
- the Council is to keep under review the structure of its committees and the scope of the activities of each [section 14(4)].
3 Schedule 1 also states that the Council may authorise any of its committees to exercise such of its functions to such extent as it may determine [section 15(1)]. Delegated authority for each committee is contained in the remit for each committee as agreed by the Council.
4 At its meeting on 19 June 2009, the Council agreed to establish a Investment Committee. The membership, remit and standing orders set out here were approved by the Council at its meeting on 19 November 2009 and amended by Council in January 2011.
Committee membership - general
5 As set out in the Council's Standing Orders, the membership of a committee will be determined by the chair of the committee and the Chair of the Council.
6 Council committees must have Council representation. The Chair, who will be determined by the Council, will be a Council member. Other committee members who are not members of the Council will be referred to as 'external members'; and the executive's guidelines for appointing members should be followed in their selection.
7 The Chief Executive, although a member of the Council, will not normally be a member of any committee, other than the Quality, Equality and General Purposes Committee.
8 A Council member's term of office on a committee will run concurrently with their Council term of office. Each external member will be appointed initially for a period of three years, with the possibility of serving for a further period thereafter.
9 On the expiry of a period of appointment of an external member, that member may be invited to serve for a single further period not exceeding three years. Where appropriate, periods of reappointment will be staggered to ensure some continuity of membership.
10 An external member may by giving notice in writing to the chair of the committee resign as a member of a committee. A Council member may by giving notice in writing to the Chair of the Council resign as a member of a committee.
11 If the Chair of the committee and the Chair of the Council are satisfied that a member's attendance at meetings has been unsatisfactory or that the member is otherwise unable or unfit to discharge the functions of a member, they may by giving notice in writing to the member remove that person from the committee.
Remit of the Investment Committee
12 The purpose of the Investment Committee is to support the Council in its role as a strategic body. It will:
- allocate funds from the Horizon Fund for Universities, college strategic funds and college and university capital funds to support the Council's strategic aims, within the delegated limits set by Council;
- consider - at a strategic level - proposed estate and infrastructure developments within and across the sectors and allocation of funds in relation to those, within the delegated limits set by Council;
- where proposals fall beyond delegated limits, provide Council with advice on them;
- monitor the use of these funds and consider evaluations of their effectiveness;
- provide Council with draft advice to Scottish Ministers on mergers within and between the college and university sectors, and with draft advice on post-merger evaluations; and
- consider matters relating to regional coherence projects.
Membership of the Investment Committee
13 The Chair of the Investment Committee will be the Chair of Council. All members of the Council are members of the Committee.
14 A Council member's term of office on the Investment Committee will run concurrently with their Council term of office.
15 A Council member may by giving notice in writing to the Chair of the Council resign as a member of the Committee.
16 If the Chair is satisfied that a member's attendance at meetings has been unsatisfactory or that the member is otherwise unable or unfit to discharge the functions of a member, they may by giving notice in writing to the member remove that person from the Committee.
Proceedings of the Investment Committee
17 The validity of any proceedings of the Investment Committee is not affected by a vacancy in membership or by any defect in the appointment of a member.
18 The secretariat function is provided by the executive's lead group - the Strategic Development group.
Quorum
19 The quorum for a Investment Committee meeting is at least half the membership. However, when not quorate the members present may decide to proceed with a meeting at which items on the agenda are considered and any recommendations reached are put to the next Committee meeting for decision if time allows or otherwise are put to Council for decision, with a clear statement that the meeting had not been quorate.
Role of the Chair in Committee meetings
20 It is the role of the Chair to see that Committee business is conducted in an orderly fashion and to ensure that members obtain a fair hearing. Members wishing to speak shall do so through the Chair.
21 The Chair is also responsible for leading the meeting to reach decisions. The Committee will normally make decisions on the basis of agreement by consensus, but where the Chair believes it to be in the interest of the progress of a debate, or where it is proposed and seconded by two members present, the Clerk may be asked to count and record a vote by a show of hands.
22 As set out in the Council's Scheme of Delegation, generally committees are expected to take matters as far as appropriate before making recommendations to the Council. The Chair of the Committee will normally have responsibility for judging when it is appropriate to make recommendations to Council: where items are routine, they will stay with the Committee until the final stage of decision-making; and where items are novel, unusual or potentially contentious, proposals should be considered by Council at an earlier stage.
Collective responsibility
23 Committee members should be encouraged to express any differing views within the Committee's internal decision-making process. In the event that a member has a reservation regarding a particular decision, they may ask for their dissent to be formally recorded in the minute. Once a decision has been reached, all members should support it.
Nomination of a Vice-Chair
24 The Chair may nominate a Vice-Chair to act as deputy in the absence of the Chair at Committee meetings. This nomination will be subject to the approval of the Committee.
Secretary to the Committee
25 The Assistant Director of Strategic Development will act as Secretary to the Committee. The Secretary will advise the Chair on the conduct of Committee business and agenda planning. The Secretary will also advise Committee members on formal matters relating to the Committee.
Clerk to the Committee
26 The Clerk of the Committee will be responsible for the management of Committee meetings, including the correct dispatch of agendas and meeting papers and the drafting of minutes.
Conflict of interest
27 All members of the Committee are required to complete a 'register of interests' on appointment to the Council and must notify the Clerk to the Council when any changes to this need to be made. This registers of interests is made publicly available on the Scottish Funding Council website.
28 If any member has, or could be perceived to have, an interest in a matter that is being considered by the Committee, then it is their duty to declare that interest at the start of the meeting or as soon as they become aware of it, whether or not that interest has already been recorded in their register of interests. This declaration will be recorded in the minutes by the Clerk. The member must decide, taking advice from the Chair, whether they should:
- remain in the meeting and participate fully;
- remain in the meeting but make no contribution; or
- withdraw from the meeting for the discussion of, and any decision on, the relevant item.
29 The Chair may, in any event, ask a member to leave the meeting if s/he thinks it is appropriate.
30 Whilst individual members have a responsibility to consider their position with regard to conflict of interest, prior to the meeting the Clerk will consider the agenda in the context of the register of members' interests and advise the Chair accordingly.
Attendance at meetings
31 Meetings will normally be attended by the executive's Chief Executive, Senior Director for Learning, Research and Knowledge Exchange, Director of Strategic Development, Director of Finance & Corporate Resources and Assistant Director of Strategic Development, who will act as the Secretary to the Committee.
32 In addition, other members of staff of the Council's executive may attend meetings - with the agreement of the Chair - as required for agenda items for which they are presenting information, to be available to respond to questions on matters arising from papers, to hear the debate where the Committee's discussion will inform their work, or as part of their on-going professional development.
33 Attendees may have a role in introducing papers, providing clarification, and contributing to discussions, but may not take part in Committee decisions.
34 As set out in the legislation, a representative of Scottish Ministers is entitled to participate in any deliberations (but not in decisions) of any committee of the Council [section 16 of Schedule 1].
Timing of meetings
Scheduled (or ordinary) meetings
35 The Committee will meet on an appropriate number of occasions in a year to carry out its duties effectively, but will normally meet quarterly.
36 The schedule of meetings for each year will be agreed by the Council, on the recommendation of the Secretary of the Committee, and taking into account the dates of Council meetings.
Extra (or special) meetings
37 The Chair may convene additional meetings as s/he deems necessary.
38 The Committee may agree to delegate to a sub-group responsibility for a particular matter. The sub-group would then report back to the Committee.
Agenda and papers
Agenda items
39 Any member can, by contacting the Secretary or Clerk to the Committee, suggest items of business. The agenda and designation of business will be decided by the Chair.
40 Items for endorsement or for noting will be starred (*) on the agenda and the Chair will ask at the start of the meeting whether members wish to discuss any of the starred items (members should notify the Secretary or Clerk to the Committee of this wish in advance of the meeting). Unless members specifically ask to discuss these items, the Chair will assume that they have been endorsed or noted.
Distribution of agenda and papers
41 The agenda of business and accompanying papers will normally be distributed no later than one week before a scheduled meeting of the Committee.
Freedom of Information
Publishing papers
42 The Committee will decide at its meeting which of its papers will be published, or published in edited form, on the Council's website. The Committee's agenda and those papers that the Committee considers publishable/publishable in edited form, will be made available on the Council's website after the next available meeting of Council.
43 Committee papers, as with all documentation produced by the Council, are subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Requests for Committee papers not published on the Council's website will be dealt with in accordance with the Council's normal freedom of information procedures.
Approval of minutes of Committee meetings
44 Minutes of a Committee meeting will be submitted to the Chair for preliminary approval, and thereafter to the subsequent meeting of the Committee for formal approval.
Reporting to the Council
45 The minutes of each Committee meeting will be reported to the Council at the next scheduled Council meeting for noting - whether they have been confirmed or are unconfirmed, but approved by the Chair.
46 At each Council meeting there will be the opportunity for the Chair to raise orally matters that s/he thinks the Council needs to be aware of.
47 An outline forward agenda will be presented to Council members for information in advance of meetings.
48 The Committee will also conduct an annual self-evaluation and produce an annual report for consideration by the Council.