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CHAPTER XIII
Conclusions and Summary of Recommendations
13.1. In previous chapters we have dealt with various facets of the matters we were commissioned to examine. Before summarising our recommendations it may be helpful if we add some comments to help them to be seen as an articulated whole and mention one or two matters which have an important bearing on our remit.
13.2. Education has been described as a national service locally administered. Its national character is nowhere more marked than in higher education. This is reflected in our recommendation for a National Body charged with advising on the total resources to be made available for maintained higher education and responsible for effectively determining the allocation of national funds between authorities and institutions. It should be seen as a body exercising considerable authority.
13.3. At the same time, our recommendations reflect our desire to see a large measure of responsibility and initiative at local level. There are therefore important limits to the powers of the National Body. It could neither require nor forbid an institution or authority to make any higher education provision or to incur any particular expenditure. Its influence will derive from its responsibility for allocating the funds which local authorities provide collectively and for overseeing their effective use.
13.4. We regard our recommendation that individual maintaining authorities should directly meet part of the cost of the higher education they provide as an essential corollary to the responsibility they would exercise. It is not merely a financial incentive to prudent management but the counterpart of a degree of freedom from absolute control, a freedom which we think is essential to the welfare of the maintained system.
13.5. Our recommendations as to how management functions at the local level should be discharged reflect this same concern to ensure that management and financial responsibilities are delegated not only to local authorities but also downwards to governing bodies, principals, heads of department and other staff. Our recommendations for the carrying forward of savings are put forward not only as an incentive to prudent management but because we believe that initiative and responsibility at any level can only be fostered if there is some source of funds, however small, within the control of management at that level.
13.6. Our recommendations for new regional advisory councils envisage that they should be financed by their member authorities. This reflects our view that they should not be regarded as regional branches of the National Body but as bodies established by local education authorities in a region to enable them better to discharge their own functions. Their responsibility will be to their patent authorities to whom their advice will normally be directed.
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13.7. Throughout our discussions we have kept much in mind the existence of an important direct grant sector of higher education. This has a long history of close working with local education authorities. We wish this to continue and we would regret it if one outcome of our recommendations for better management of the maintained sector were to leave direct grant institutions with a sense of isolation. But it is not within our terms of reference to make recommendations in relation to them, and we have refrained from so doing. We believe, however, that if it were the wish of the providing bodies that they should be either associated with or come within the system of national management we propose there would be a ready response from the maintained side. We hope that the Secretary of State will canvass the possibilities of such steps in the consultations which she has undertaken to make on our report.
13.8. We believe that our recommendations for better management will benefit both the availability and quality of maintained higher education. Our assumption has been that standards will continue to be a matter for academic boards, validating bodies and professional institutions. But we recognise that standards are intimately linked to management and financial decisions. Our proposals for the composition of the National Body reflect our concern with the maintenance of standards. We believe that because of this, and because the councils of validating bodies also include representatives from the local education authority world, there is no need to fear that the actions of the National Body in promoting proper economy will be threatening to educational quality. Where necessary the National Body should stand ready to enter into discussion with validating bodies about standards.
13.9. We have placed much emphasis on the need for higher education to be adaptable to the changes which we expect may be required of it in the period up to the end of the century. The terms and conditions of service of academic and other staff will need to reflect this and we hope that the bodies responsible for negotiating them will keep this in view.
13.10. Finally, we recognise that all of us have as the result of our discussions changed our initial views and come closer to the views expressed by others. We believe that our recommendations represent an important step forward towards more rational and effective management of higher education and as such commend them for implementation at an early date. They are as follows:
General
(i) Since there will be a continuing substantial local authority role in providing higher education, the system for its management should reflect a partnership between national and local levels. (3.2, 4.8 and 5.4).
National
(ii) A National Body should be established with the following terms of reference:
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'To collect, analyse and present, where appropriate in conjunction with the Department of Education and Science and the Grants Committee, information affecting the demand for supply of higher education in the maintained sector; to advise Secretary of State and the local authority associations on the total provision which should be made for it; to consider and issue guidance on the programmes and estimates submitted to it by authorities and, where appropriate, institutions; to allocate funds for recurrent expenditure and to advise on the allocation of capital expenditure; and to have general oversight of the development of maintained higher education and its cost-effectiveness. (5.2)
(iii) The National Body should be composed as follows:
(6.3)
(iv) The Secretary of State should consult widely in making her nominations, and in the case of the three institutional members for whose nomination she would be responsible should consider names suggested by organisations representing management and staff in maintained institutions providing higher education. There should also be consultations between her and nominating bodies before they take their final decisions. (6.4 and 6.6)
(v) Members should serve in a personal capacity and appointment should be for a fixed period renewable. The Secretary of State and organisations nominating members should also be able to nominate a strictly limited number of other persons to receive papers and and to serve as alternates. (6.3 and 6.10)
(vi) The DES should be represented at meetings of the National Body by assessors. (6.3)
(vii) The National Body should employ its own staff. (6.11)
(viii) The position of the local authorities in relation to the National Body should be reflected in a special procedure whereby if the local authority members present were united on an issue but in a minority on the National Body, the matter could be referred at their request to the Secretary of State for decision in consultation with the local authority associations. (6.8-6.9)
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(ix) The funds under the control of the National Body should be provided by local authorities collectively through a pool. (5.22) They should meet the major part of the cost of providing higher education in the maintained sector. (5.11) Maintaining authorities should, however, be responsible for meeting directly up to 15 per cent of the costs of their higher education provision; this direct local contribution should be introduced at a level of 5 per cent and increased by annual stages up to 15 per cent, subject to review before going beyond 10 per cent. (5.38)
(x) The Pooling Committee should be invited to study alternative formulae for determining contributions to the pool and possible transitional adjustments designed to mitigate difficulties arising from the introduction of local contributions. (5.37)
(xi) The National Body's remit should extend to all forms of maintained higher education and it will have to develop a variety of administrative and financial mechanisms appropriate to varying types of institution and provision. We have considered certain possibilities but the National Body should be free to make the final choice, in consultation with the local authority associations and other interested organisations. (7.2-7.3)
Local
(xii) Individual maintaining authorities should retain overall responsibility for the good management of institutions under their control. (8.1) Subject to this, institutions should be granted the maximum freedom to manage their own affairs. (8.3)
(xiii) The governing body of an institution should provide a clear focus of authority and accountability. (8.5) In particular,
(a) it should be accorded the greatest practicable degree of operational freedom in matters relating to the appointment of all grades of staff; (8.6)
(b) it should in general be free to make its own arrangements regarding purchases and contracts; and (8.12)
(c) its ultimate responsibility to its maintaining authority for all expenditure incurred by the institution should be clearly recognised. (8.20)
(xiv) Provision should be made whereby a governing body which fails to fulfil its responsibilities could be dissolved and arrangements made for the discharge of its functions pending the establishment of a new governing body. (8.13)
(xv) Although the business of the governing body should be entrusted to a clerk responsible directly to it, the chief education officer of the maintaining authority should have the right to attend and speak at all meetings. (8.5)
(xvi) The constitution and modus operandi of the governing body should ensure
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(a) continuity of membership among non-staff members to enable them to acquire an adequate understanding of the institution's work;
(b) the association of members with specific areas of the institution's work, eg through finance committees and joint planning committees with the academic board; and
(c) a reasonable overall balance in membership between representatives of the maintaining authority, representatives of interests within the institution itself and independent members. (8.21)
(xvii) Rules governing finance should ensure
(a) the provision of funds by the maintaining authority in the form of a closed budget, with supplementation only on the basis of predetermined rules;
(b) the carry-over by the institution from one financial year to the next of at least part of any savings made through effective management; and
(c) the operation of financial planning and control on the basis of rolling programmes. (8.14)
(xviii) Clear and detailed financial regulations should be drawn up by maintaining authorities governing their relations with their institutions. (8.16)
(xix) The academic board should have access to relevant financial information to enable it to assess the financial implications of its decisions on academic matters; conversely, the governing body should take into account the advice of the academic board regarding the academic implications of financial decisions. (8.24)
(xx) The principal as chairman of the academic board should have a major responsibility for ensuring harmonious relations between the latter and the governing body. (8.25)
(xxi) Those responsible for day-to-day management of the institution should be adequately represented on its governing body and academic board. (8.26)
(xxii) Responsibility for the formulation of guidance on articles of government and for their approval should remain with the Secretary of State, who should, however, look to the National Body for advice. (8.29)
(xxiii) The National Body should have a general responsibility for improving the management of maintained higher education as a whole. In addition to preparing advice on articles of government, it should promote further consideration of
(a) the extent to which governing bodies can be given authority in establishment matters, and
(b) the preparation of model financial regulations for adoption LEAs. (8.10,8.16 and 8.30)
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(xxiv) Further consideration should be given in the appropriate quarters to the responsibility of governing bodies for approving student union fees' and to the provisions of the Burnham FE Document affecting the management structure of institutions. (8.17)
Regional
(xxv) Nine new regional advisory councils should be established in England, with responsibility for considering, promoting, monitoring and advising on the planning, coordination and development in the regions of higher education in the public sector, including initial, induction and in-service training of teachers. Universities in each region should be invited to cooperate with these new councils and to be represented on them. (9.12-9.13)
(xxvi) The councils should be set up by trust deeds, requiring the establishment of a governing body, together with two main sub-committees to deal with
(a) higher education, including initial teacher education, and
(b) the induction and in-service training of teachers. (9.16)
(xxvii) Initially, the boundaries of each region should be those of the existing RACs; modifications of these boundaries, where necessary, and arrangements for membership in areas of overlap should be the subject of negotiation between the councils as soon as they are established. (9.14)
(xxviii) Each council should have a governing body composed of three broad groups, comprising
(a) representatives of local education authorities and voluntary providing bodies;
(b) representatives of staff and management in the institutions, and
(c) others, including representatives of commerce and industry, schools and the universities. (9.15)
(xxix) Members of Her Majesty's Inspectorate should attend meetings of the councils as assessors. (9.15)
(xxx) The constitution of the governing body of each council should be subject to the approval of the Secretary of State. (9.15)
(xxxi) The budget of each council should be met from the funds of the constituent local authorities. (9.17)
Wales
(xxxii) The application of the recommendations in this report to Wales should be considered further in relation to the timing of devolution. (11.3)
Implementation
(xxxiii) The DES should consult further with the other Departments concerned and with the local authority associations about the legislation which may be required to implement these recommendations. (12.3)
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(xxxiv) Consideration should be given, in the light of the prospective parliamentary timetable, to the establishment of the National Body on a shadow basis to undertake preparatory work pending the enactment of legislation. (12.7)
(xxxv) There should be an early start on the implementation of our recommendations. (12.4) In particular, steps should be taken urgently, if necessary before final decisions are taken on the other recommendations, to establish the new regional advisory councils (recommendation (xxv)) (12.6) and to initiate the discussions referred to in recommendations (xi) and (xxiii) (12.5). The DES should assume responsibility for the last, pending establishment of the National Body. (8.30)
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APPENDIX A
List of Organisations and Individuals Submitting Written
Evidence to the Working Group
Association of College Registrars and Administrators
Association of Polytechnic Teachers
Association of Principals of Colleges
Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
Conference of Principals and Directors of Colleges of Higher Education
Council of Polytechnic Librarians
Governing Body of North-East London Polytechnic
Library Association
National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education
National Union of Students
Nottingham Professional Committee for Teacher Education and Training
Science and Education Sub-Committee of Labour Party NEC
Standing Academic Planning Board, City of Bradford Metropolitan Council
Standing Conference of Heads of Mechanical and Production Engineering in the Polytechnics
Standing Conference of Regional Advisory Councils
Professor K Alan-Smith and Dr R Horwitz, London Regional Management Centre
Mr G Hutchinson, Chief Education Officer, London Borough of Enfield
Mr John Pratt, Mr Tony Travers and Mr Tyrell Burgess, Centre for Institutional Studies, North East London Polytechnic
Mr J Rendel Jones, Chief Education Officer, East Sussex County Council
Mr E E Robinson, Principal, Bradford College
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APPENDIX B
Table
Advanced courses in public sector institutions: expected pattern of institutions 1981 and related student numbers 1975/76 analysed by level of study and mode of attendance (England and Wales)*
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