Academic and Academic-related Staff Pay and Conditions Bill [H.L.]
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Make provision with respect to the remuneration, recruitment, retention and other conditions of employment of academic and academic-related staff; and for connected purposes.
BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:- |
Establishment of review body to consider statutory conditions of employment etc. of academic and academic-related staff. |
1. - (1) The Secretary of State shall appoint a body (in this Act referred to as "the review body") to examine and report on such matters relating to the statutory conditions of employment of academic and academic-related staff in England and Wales as may from time to time be referred to the review body by the Secretary of State. |
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(2) In this Act "statutory conditions of employment", in relation to any academic or academic-related staff, means their remuneration and such of their other conditions of employment as relate to their professional duties and working time. |
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(3) The Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution and proceedings of the review body. |
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(4) With respect to matters referred to the review body by him, the Secretary of State may give directions to the review body as to considerations to which they are to have regard and as to the time within which they are to report; and any such directions may be varied or revoked by further directions under this section. |
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(5) Where a matter has been referred to the review body, they shall give notice of the matter and of any relevant direction to- |
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(a) the Higher Education Funding Council for England, |
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(b) the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, |
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(c) the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals and any body representing employers of academic or academic-related staff with whom consultation appears to them to be desirable, and |
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(d) such bodies representing academic or academic-related staff as appear to them to be concerned, |
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and shall afford every such council, committee and other body a reasonable opportunity of submitting evidence and representations with respect to the issues arising. |
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(6) Where a matter has been referred to the review body, their report shall contain their recommendations on that matter and such other advice relating to that matter as they think fit. |
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(7) The review body shall send any report made by them under this section to the Secretary of State and, upon receiving a report, the Secretary of State shall arrange for it to be published. |
Orders relating to statutory conditions of employment. |
2. - (1) Where, following the reference of any matters to them under section 1 above, the review body have made a report, the Secretary of State may, after consulting- |
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(a) the Higher Education Funding Council for England, |
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(b) the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, |
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(c) the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals and any other body representing employers of academic or academic-related staff with whom consultation appears to him to be desirable, and |
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(d) such bodies representing academic or academic-related staff as appear to him to be concerned, |
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make provision by order giving effect to the recommendations of the review body, with or without modification, or making such other provision with respect to the matters referred to the review body as he thinks fit. |
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(2) An order under this section is in the following provisions of this Act referred to as a "pay and conditions order", and such an order shall either- |
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(a) contain the provision to be made; or |
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(b) refer to provisions set out in a document published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office and direct that those provisions shall have effect or, as the case may be, be amended in accordance with the order. |
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(3) A pay and conditions order may, in particular, as regards the statutory conditions of academic or academic-related staff do all or any of the following- |
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(a) confer discretion on the higher education institution with respect to any matter; |
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(b) set lower and upper limits on the number or proportion of academic or academic-related staff in a higher education institution to be paid on specified scales or who are at any specified time to be paid any specified allowance; |
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(c) provide for the determination of any questions arising as to the interpretation or application of the provisions set out or referred to in the order; |
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(d) make provision which is retrospective, but not so as to require the reduction of an academic or academic-related member of staff's remuneration in respect of a past period or so as to alter for any past period any other statutory condition of employment to the detriment of an academic or academic-related member of staff; |
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(e) provide that, to the extent specified in the order, matters may be settled by agreement between, or in a manner agreed between, academic or academic-related staff and their employer. |
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(4) Without prejudice to his power to make a pay and conditions order by virtue of subsection (1) above, after consulting the councils, committee and other bodies referred to in paragraphs (a) to (c) of subsection (1), above the Secretary of State may make a pay and conditions order by virtue of this subsection if- |
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(a) it appears to the Secretary of State, following consultation with the chairman (or, in his absence, the deputy chairman) of the review body, that the provision proposed to be made by the order is not of so significant a nature that the matter to which it relates should be referred to the review body under section 1 above; and |
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(b) it appears to the Secretary of State to be expedient to make the provision in question. |
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(5) Subject to any amendment or revocation by a later pay and conditions order, the effect of a pay and conditions order is that- |
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(a) so far as it relates to remuneration, the remuneration of academic and academic-related staff to whom the order applies shall be determined, and paid to academic and academic-related staff by their employers in accordance with the scales and other provisions set out or referred to in the order; and |
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(b) so far as it relates to other statutory conditions of employment, the provisions set out or referred to in the order shall have effect as terms of the contracts of employment of academic and academic-related staff to whom the order applies. |
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(6) So far as concerns his statutory conditions of employment, the contract of employment of an academic or academic-related member of staff shall contain no terms other than those which have effect by virtue of a pay and conditions order. |
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(7) Without prejudice to section 14 of the Interpretation Act 1978 (power to make an order implies a power, exercisable in the same manner etc, to revoke or amend a previous order made under that power) a pay and conditions order made by virtue of subsection (1) above may revoke or amend, or may be revoked or amended by, a pay and conditions order made by virtue of subsection (4) above. |
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(8) A pay and conditions order shall be made by statutory instrument and- |
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(a) if the order gives effect without any material modification to recommendations of the review body or is made by virtue of subsection (5) above, the order shall contain a statement that it does so or, as the case may be, is so made; and |
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(b) in any other case, the statutory instrument by which the order is made shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament. |
Additional functions of review body. |
3. - (1) The Secretary of State may in addition to any reference under section 1 refer to the review body other matters relating to the recruitment and retention of academic and academic-related staff. |
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(2) Subsections (4) to (7) of section 1 apply to a reference under this section as if it were a reference under that section. |
Interpretation and orders. |
4. - (1) In this Act- |
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"academic staff" means persons employed in a higher education institution for the purpose of teaching or conducting research; |
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"academic-related staff" means persons employed in a higher education institution for the purpose of providing technical services in connection with teaching or research; |
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"contract of employment", in relation to an academic or academic-related member of staff, means the contract, whether a contract of service or for services, under which he performs his duties as an academic or academic-related member of staff; |
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"higher education institution" means an institution as defined in section 65(5) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 which receives grants, loans or other payments under that section; |
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"pay and conditions order" has the meaning given by section 2(2) above; |
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"the review body" has the meaning given by section 1(1) above; |
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"statutory conditions of employment" has (subject to subsection (3) below) the meaning given by section 1(2) above. |
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(2) For the purposes of this Act, the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument provide that, with effect from the date on which the order comes into force or such later date as may be specified in or determined under the order- |
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(a) any payment or other benefit specified in the order is, or as the case may be is not, to be regarded as remuneration; or |
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(b) any matter is, or as the case may be is not, to be regarded as falling within the professional duties or working time of academic or academic-related staff. |
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(3) An order under any provision of this Act may- |
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(a) make different provision for different cases, including different provision for different areas; and |
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(b) contain such incidental, supplemental or transitional provisions as the Secretary of State thinks fit. |
Short title, extent and commencement. |
5. - (1) This Act may be cited as the Academic and Academic-related Staff Pay and Conditions Act 1999. |
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(2) This Act, except paragraph 5 of the Schedule to this Act (House of Commons disqualification), extends to England and Wales only; and that paragraph extends to the whole of the United Kingdom. |
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(3) This Act shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order made by statutory instrument appoint, and, without prejudice to section 4(3) above, different days may be so appointed for different provisions and for different purposes. |