15. Committee Papers Guidance and Best Practice

Secretaries are responsible for working with their committee Chair, members and paper writers to ensure committee papers are focused concise and clear.

1. It is critical that papers make clear what the committee is being asked to do and why. The Action box should be used to make this clear and key issues should be easy to identify in the executive summary.
2. The Committee coversheet template can be found in Section 14. The coversheet should be used for all formal committee papers.
3. Papers should provide prompts to identify the nature and scope of any debate required by committees and provide specific recommendations, with alternatives and the impact of any proposal on any key policy objectives.
4. Papers should normally be 2-4 pages in length. While individual papers may not be long, cumulatively committee papers become lengthy, meaning lots of reading time for committee members.
5. Data can be vital but needs to be used in moderation and the importance of key metrics highlighted for lay members.
6. Committee papers should aid governance oversight and decision-making by drawing attention to key information in the executive summary and action required by the committee box.
7. The University has a duty to publish accurate and transparent information which is widely accessible. Transparent information means an appropriate level of detail: both too much and too little information and detail prevents good governance, transparency and accessibility.
8. Clear and transparent papers enable meaningful engagement by committee members and other relevant stakeholders to facilitate governance oversight.

The action that the committee is being asked to take (e.g. To APPROVE, To CONSIDER, To NOTE, To RECOMMEND) should be clearly outlined in the purple box at the top of the coversheet (see template in section 14). 
 
Some examples of Committee actions are:  

• To APPROVE the annual report on Senior Staff Remuneration
• To CONSIDER an update and review of the University KPIs
• To NOTE the dates of Graduation Ceremonies on the Loughborough campus
• To RECOMMEND the award of Honorary Degrees and Medals as outlined in the paper.

Alongside the committee action the ‘action-box’ can also include key questions for the Committee to consider or areas for advice or engagement.  

As part of the increased focus on EDI, the coversheet should include how EDI considerations have been taken into account in the matters relevant to the Committee paper. This section should always be completed where possible except where there are genuinely no actionable, specific connections with equity, diversity and inclusion. 

However, many topics will have some tangible connection (e.g., buildings and accessibility, strategic changes and Equality Impact Assessments). If these are consistently being left out by paper authors, the Secretary should first discuss with the Chair of the committee and seek advice from the Head of Governance to consider what further support is needed to ensure EDI issues are appropriately considered.

New or amended policies, procedures and guidance will usually require an Equality Impact Assessment to be carried out. Guidance on this process is on the EDI Services site, linked below.