Representation

The following was agreed

That Union representatives on committees should be elected at the first meeting of the Union Council.

That candidates should be allowed to nominate themselves.

Their nominations should be sent to the Union administration by the deadline set for the receipt of motions.

They must each submit a paragraph of no more than 150 words supporting their nomination, which will be circulated with the papers for the meeting.

That each member of Union Council will have one vote for each vacancy. (i.e. if there are six places then each member may vote six times).

That decision will be made by simple majority on the first past the post principle.

Subsequent vacancies should be filled by the same method.

All representatives on committees should attend a briefing in advance of the meeting.

Rules Governing Meetings

The following was agreed for all meetings:

All meetings will be open to all members, unless the meeting is dealing with issues which the chair has determined to be confidential (in line with the confidentiality policy).

Meetings will start on time.

A time will be set by which the meeting will finish.

The members present will have the authority to extend the meeting past the scheduled end time.

The chair is responsible for managing the meeting, balancing each person’s right to speak and the need to deal with the business of the meeting.

A record of all meetings will be kept, including details of any decisions and actions which should result from the decisions.

The chair of the meeting will be responsible for providing a report to the members as soon as possible (this would exclude any issues which are personally or commercially confidential). This report should be given in the most appropriate format, e.g. formal written report, email, video etc.

The following was agreed for Executive and Committee meetings:

In addition to the above

The date, time and venue of each meeting will be made public in advance of each meeting.

At the end of each meeting the chair will sum up all action points which have been agreed.

At the beginning of the year the team will agree a set of groundrules which will apply throughout their term of office.

Meetings of members

A schedule of meetings will be established and published at the start of each academic year.

Items to be included in each meeting must be agreed by the Independant Chair 10 working days before the day of the meeting. An agenda for the meeting must be published at least 5 working days before the meeting.

In accordance with the constitution, for meetings held in addition to those scheduled at the start of the year an agenda will be published no less than 24 hours before the start of the meeting.

At the start of each meeting a member of the Executive Committee will explain the protocol for that meeting.

The Independent chair will be responsible for keeping time.