AW-01 — Committee and Meeting Administration

1. Purpose and scope

Purpose. To ensure that every IoL committee and formal meeting has a written mandate, a known membership, a quorum tested before decisions are taken, papers circulated in time to be read, minutes that record what was decided and who will do what by when, and one register of decisions and actions tracked to closure.

Scope statement. This procedure manages IoL committees, working groups and formal management meetings from the approval of their terms of reference to the closure of the actions they generate and the archiving of their records.

Applies to. Every standing committee constituted by IoL, every working group reporting to one, the IoL management meeting, and any meeting whose minutes are relied on as evidence of a decision, including the management review under AW-25.

Does not apply to. MBRU institutional committees, whose secretariat is MBRU's; team meetings that take no recorded decisions; the substance of academic decisions, which belongs to WF-01 and WF-04; learner panels, which follow WF-11.

2. Trigger, boundary and interfaces

3. Roles and accountability

Process owner. IoL Governance or Executive Officer, or equivalent [IoL to confirm], with authority to refuse to table a paper that misses the deadline or states no decision.

[CONTROL] Segregation. The Secretary drafts the minutes, the Chair approves them and the members confirm them. The action owner closes an action by producing evidence; the Secretary records it and does not close actions on the owner's behalf. A paper author does not chair the item their paper is decided under.

4. Procedure

1. Constitute the committee. Terms of reference are approved by the Senior Director, IoL, and, where MBRU governance requires it, noted by the relevant MBRU committee [IoL to confirm]. They state purpose, delegated authority (AW-05), membership by role, quorum, chair, frequency, reporting line and review date. [CONTROL] No committee takes a decision before its terms of reference are approved and held as a controlled document under AW-03.

2. Maintain membership. The Secretary holds the membership list by role and incumbent with term dates, and confirms ex officio members are the current post-holders. Quorum is the number stated in the terms of reference, never assumed.

3. Publish the annual calendar. Before each academic year the Secretary publishes dates for every scheduled meeting, aligned to the MBRU committee cycle, the WF-04 reporting cycle and the AW-25 external reporting calendar, so that a paper needing an IoL decision before an MBRU deadline has a meeting. [CONTROL] The AW-25 management review is a scheduled committee event on this calendar, not an ad hoc meeting.

4. Run the agenda cycle. Call for papers 15 working days before the meeting, close 10 days before, circulate agenda and papers 5 days before [IoL to confirm timings]. Every paper carries a cover sheet stating the author, the decision sought, the recommendation, resource implications (AW-02), risk implications (AW-06) and whether the matter is within IoL authority under AW-05. Decision point. A late paper is tabled only with the Chair's written agreement, recorded in the minutes.

5. Open the meeting. The Chair confirms quorum; the Secretary records those present, apologies and attendees without voting rights. [CONTROL] No decision is taken without quorum; if quorum is lost, remaining items are noted for discussion only.

6. Declare conflicts of interest. Before the substantive agenda, each member declares any interest in an item. The Chair decides whether the member withdraws, stays without voting, or has no material conflict, and the decision is minuted. [CONTROL] A standing conflicts register per committee is reviewed annually and does not replace the per-meeting declaration.

7. Take and record decisions. For each item the minutes record the decision in a form that can be acted on without reading the paper, the options considered where contested, the vote or consensus, and dissent by name where the member asks. Each action states one owner, a due date and the evidence of completion expected. [CONTROL] An action with no owner or no date is not minuted as an action; the Chair assigns one or the item returns.

8. Draft, approve and confirm the minutes. The Secretary drafts within 5 working days; the Chair approves within a further 5; the committee confirms them as a correct record at the next meeting. Corrections are minuted at that meeting, not applied silently. [CONTROL] Confirmed minutes are read-only in the repository.

9. Update the registers. Within 2 working days of Chair approval the Secretary enters each decision in the decision register (committee, date, decision, paper reference, downstream procedure triggered) and each action in the action register (owner, due date, status, evidence). AW-03 is notified of decisions changing a controlled document; AW-02 of decisions committing resources.

10. Track actions to closure. Reminders go out 5 working days before due dates; the action register is reported at every meeting, overdue items first. Decision point. An action overdue by more than one meeting cycle is re-dated by the Chair with a minuted reason or escalated to the Senior Director, IoL.

11. Escalate to MBRU committees. Where a matter exceeds IoL authority, the Chair minutes a recommendation and the Senior Director, IoL, submits it through MBRU's secretariat. The Secretary records the submission date, the MBRU decision and any conditions.

12. Review the committee annually. Terms of reference, attendance, quorum failures and overdue actions are reviewed and reported to the Senior Director, IoL. Working groups close at their stated end date or are extended in writing.

Exception routes. Chair's action between meetings only where the terms of reference allow it, reported and minuted at the next meeting. Electronic circulation for decision only for items that cannot wait, requiring responses from a quorum, minuted at the next meeting with the responses attached. Extraordinary meetings follow the same rules with the shortened paper deadline minuted.

5. Service standards

6. Records, retention and controls

Key controls. (1) Every committee has approved terms of reference before its first decision. (2) Quorum is confirmed and recorded at every meeting. (3) Conflicts of interest are declared and recorded at every meeting. (4) Every action has one owner and a due date. (5) Minutes are approved by the Chair, confirmed by the committee and then read-only. (6) Every decision is retrievable from the decision register within the AW-04 service standard. (7) Matters outside IoL authority are escalated, not decided.

OBEF touchpoint. None. Where WF-01 or WF-04 needs a minute as evidence of a decision, WF-26 retrieves it through AW-04.

7. Performance measures

8. Change control