AGENDA for a meeting on 26th November 2004
1430 in the Burnaby Terrace Meeting Room (BT1.05)
| CHAIR: | Jim Briggs |
| MEMBERS: | Penny Ross, John Rosbottom, Roger Beresford, Tony Kalus, Richard Healey, Jane Chandler, Steve Hand, Tom Addis, Frank Stowell |
| APOLOGIES ALREADY RECEIVED: | Janet Delve, Jenny Jerrams-Smith, Max Bramer |
| IN ATTENDANCE: | Angela Muscat taking minutes |
| Agenda |
Notes |
Minutes of the last meeting |
Minutes of the meeting on 14th June 2004 |
Matters arising from previous minutes |
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Links with Geography |
RH to report on progress in arranging a meeting. |
External review of our research activities |
The working party has still not met. Propose cancel action. |
VAT on research |
Melissa Walker (Finance) writes... Following a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) there is likely to be a change to how we recognise VAT on all research work. The ECJ recently ruled in a German case that there is no provision in EC law for research to be treated as exempt from VAT. As this is an EC ruling, it is likely that this will also apply to UK research. HM Customs and Excise is currently investigating this area and the potential impact on research within universities. This investigation includes consultation with various bodies including funders. It is suggested in the ruling that we would need to withdraw any exemption for those supplies that are currently exempt, that is under UK law, those supplies of research made between two eligible bodies, which accounts for the majority of Portsmouth's research (i.e research councils, government departments, charities, other eligible bodies). The effect of this ruling means that the majority of our work may attract VAT. It has not yet been agreed whether there would be any exceptions to this rule e.g. whether we could argue that there is no research supply to e,g research councils which would therefore meant that no VAT would be attracted. If the change comes into force, then there may be an impact on current research projects, with the result that we may lose up to 17.5 percent of the budget if we are unable to renegotiate the contract. As a mitigating factor, it is therefore reccommended that we add a statement to our proposals, wherever possible, that states wording to the effect of "The VAT Liability of Research is currently being investigated by HM Customs and Excise under direction of the European Commission. In the event that VAT becomes chargeable under UK law, the University of Portsmouth reserves the right to add VAT at the prevailing rate to the research contract. Such amendment is subject to agreement with the sponsor" It is likely that the larger organisations e.g. Research Councils, large Charities etc will make an all encompassing decision which will affect all universities, therefore allowing no individual negotiation. |
Attendance at Thursday research seminars |
To discuss why the attendance at the Thursday lunchtime seminars has been poor this semester. |
RAE 2008 |
JSB to report on status |
Constitution of Committee |
To discuss membership in light of the recent increases in research student numbers. |
Matters from other committees |
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Faculty Research Committee |
Research student bursaries being reviewed. New research applications procedure. |
Faculty Research Degrees Committee |
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University Research Committee |
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University Research Degrees Committee |
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Research student matters |
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Research group reports |
Each group has up to 5 minutes to report recent developments |
Any Other Business |
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Date of next meeting |
Middle Spring term - to be decided |
Updated to