Details of relevant events will be added as soon as they become available.

Spring Newsletter 2010
The FEHE Panel have published their spring newsletter for 2010. Please click here to download the newsletter in full.

Response
CIPFA has responded to a consultation on changes to the funding agreement between HEFCE and institutions. Please click here to read the response in full.

Would you like to join this CIPFA Panel?
The Panel welcomes expressions of interest from people who may seek to join it in due course as vacancies arise.

The Panel meets 3 to 4 times a year and assists the Institute’s policy and technical work in its subject area.  This typically includes the following types of activity:

• developing Institute responses to Government, professional bodies' and other bodies' consultation/discussion papers and exposure drafts
• developing, promoting and maintaining best practice, standards and guidelines
• producing and disseminating relevant advice and material for members and employers in the Panel’s subject area
• establishing positive and productive professional relationships with Government, government departments and agencies, the national audit bodies, professional regulators and other bodies falling within the Panel's subject area.

If you feel you could contribute to the Panel’s thinking and activities and would like to be considered for membership, in the first instance please contact julian.smith@cipfa.org.uk with a short summary of your CV, and of your reasons for interest in joining the Panel.

Resource Allocation Models in Further and Higher Education: A Compendium (Fully Revised Second Edition 2010)
Resource allocation is one of the tools that directors of finance can use to influence change and to help position their institution to best effect as the United Kingdom emerges from recession. In future years, institutions will be dealing with the aftermath of the economic downturn as it impacts on public funding. At the same time, student numbers and expectations continue to rise, along with competition for the best staff and resources in a global market.

For further details and to order your copy, visit the CIPFA Shop

Response
The Further and Higher Education Panel, jointly with the Children's Services Panel, has responded to the draft National Commissioning Framework (NCF) developed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Learning and Skills Council. To view the response, please click here.

New Charity Commission Research on Charities and Beneficiaries
The Charity Commission has just published A Balancing Act: New perspectives on the Charity/Beneficiary Relationship,  which examines the charity/beneficiary relationship from the perspectives of charities, the public and the public as charity beneficiaries. It includes the Charity Commission's thoughts on the implications of the research for the sector, wider society and for the Commission itself.

Please follow the link below to view the report: www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Library/publications/pdfs/rs18text.pdf

A technical report accompanies A Balancing Act. The technical report, produced by Ipsos MORI, contains the detailed survey method and data tables for the three surveys conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Charity Commission.

Please follow the link below to view the technical report: www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Library/publications/pdfs/rs18moribal.pdf

If you feel this research raises points on which it would be helpful for CIPFA’s Further and Higher Education Panel to feed back to the Charity Commission, please contact kerry.ace@cipfa.org.uk with any suggestions.

A Good Practice Self-Evaluation Tool for Financial Governance
Good Practice Self-Evaluation Tool for Financial Governance builds on the Panel’s publication Guide for Finance Committee Members in Further and Higher Education (CIPFA, 2008) by providing a practical way for those responsible for financial governance (finance governors) to review periodically their effectiveness and identify areas for future development. It provides a simple way for the executive officer with lead responsibility for financial matters to test the design and organisation of the interface between financial management and financial governance. It is also a mechanism for clerks to finance committees to satisfy themselves that the arrangements for the annual cycle of committee business enables and supports the achievement of good practice in financial governance.

The self evaluation tool is a questionnaire that looks at key themes that underpin the effectiveness of those responsible for financial governance. It has been developed by CIPFA’s Further and Higher Education Panel and has been ‘road tested’ by the finance and resources committee at Oxford Brookes University.

The checklist together with an explanatory note outlining how it should be used are available for free download.