July 2003/33
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| To: | Heads of HEFCE-funded higher education institutions Heads of universities in Northern Ireland |
| Of interest to those responsible for: | Human resources management, Strategic management |
| Reference: | 2003/33 |
| Publication date: | July 2003 |
| Enquiries to: |
Tracy Allan |
Executive summary (read on-line)
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Executive summary
Purpose
1. This is a consultation on our plans for the continuation of the Rewarding and Developing Staff in Higher Education initiative from 2004-05 onwards, including the ongoing development of institutional human resources strategies. Additional funds will be available, and indicative allocations of these new funds are provided (see Annex D). Comments are invited on how the scheme will operate.
Key points
2. As part of the 2002 Spending Review, the Government announced additional resources (£167 million over two years from 2004-05) to help institutions recruit, retain and develop staff, as well as helping to modernise management processes. This supplements the £330 million provided since 2001-02. These investments will help the higher education sector sustain its world-class reputation, since meeting the challenges of the future depends critically upon its ability to attract and motivate high-quality staff.
3. The previously earmarked resources will be returned to core teaching grant from 2004-05. This recognises the need to maintain the momentum of improvement and provides the sector with greater certainty of funding.
4. This consultation proposes building on, and improving, the approach adopted with the Rewarding and Developing Staff initiative in 2001. We suggest a mechanism for distributing additional funding, that will support the continued investment and accelerated pace of change in the sector. We also suggest how the current Rewarding and Developing Staff funding, which is currently separately identified, can be returned to core funding (paragraphs 18-22). The key activities identified in this consultation are set out at Annex A, and consultation questions are listed at Annex C.
5. In designing the scheme we have sought to keep the burden of accountability to a minimum. At the same time, we have sought to provide the Government with the assurance that the sector's human resource and management processes will continue to develop to meet the challenges of the future. We are encouraging continued collaboration across the sector, and are seeking input from sector organisations and regional groupings in order to take our proposals forward and maximise the potential benefit.
Action required
6. Comments are invited on how the second round of the initiative will operate. They should be sent to Tracy Allan at HEFCE (t.allan@hefce.ac.uk) by Thursday 25 September 2003.