Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

Version 1.2 Produced 2011-02-17

• Coverage
• Data requirements:
            Finance
            Student/Staff counts
            Area
            Condition
• Data collection system
• Formatting and printing

Coverage

1. Should questions regarding historic data be directed to HESA or IPD?

   All questions regarding EMS should now be directed to HESA. IPD will no longer provide any feedback.

2. What are the Mandatory Items?

   A small number of items are mandatory for institutions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The entire collection is optional for institutions in Scotland, although they are encouraged to make use of the system.

   The mandatory items are listed in the Coverage.

3. On what date basis should data be returned?

   HESA collect data relating to a reporting period of 01 August Y1 to 31 July Y2. Data should be returned on an academic year basis (position at 31 July of the reporting period), unless otherwise specified. Some items, such as staff FTE, are required to be returned on a census date of 01 December. Note that this is 01 December contained within the reporting period.

4. Why is data from the HESA Staff record not incorporated into the EMS return?

   Currently the Staff record does not collect the breakdowns necessary for the EMS return. HESA are considering ways of tying the two records together in the future to help reduce the burden on institutions and improve consistency between the returns.

Data requirements

         Finance

1. Should HEIs include or exclude long term maintenance provision as part of D33 (maintenance costs)?

   Long term maintenance provision should NOT be included as part of maintenance costs. However, any ACTUAL expenditure associated with long term maintenance should be included as part of maintenance costs.

2. How should conference related activities be classified?

   All commercial conference activities should be dealt with under 'Other non-residential'. An exception to this rule would be where conference accommodation space is predominantly used for student residences.

3. Residential space is subject to rates in Northern Ireland, how should this be recorded?

   To maintain consistency, institutions in Northern Ireland should exclude rateable values and rates payments from their return on residential space.

4. Annual expenditure can be incurred on legislative compliance which does not fall under the scope of repair and maintenance. How should this be treated?

   The definition provided by EMS specifies that "coverage relates only to activities that are covered by maintenance expenditure" and thus other items falling outside this guideline should not be incorporated into D39 (current cost of legislative compliance). It is likely that capital related legislative compliance costs will be captured under the capital expenditure return, but it is not separately requested. The focus has to be upon minimum burden of data collection with maximum value of data. Capturing legislative compliance costs on a revenue basis achieves this, as it can be related more directly to maintenance costs.

5. Should any consultancy fees incurred on surveys of premises to assess compliance be included in the return for D39 (current costs of legislative compliance)?

   In D39, EMS is aiming to assemble the proportion of the annual maintenance costs which is accounted for by legislative compliance. Thus, in accordance with the EMS definition for maintenance, fees incurred should be included.

6. Should Insurance Premium Tax be included in item D29 (insurance premium)?

   Yes, IPT should be included in calculating insurance premium totals, just as VAT is included in other expenditure calculations.

7. How should joint ventures and business partnerships be recorded?

   Apportionment should be made between the institutions on a percentage basis. Each institution should return figures on the basis of the percentage owned and used by themselves.

8. How should data that has been assembled in a variety of ways be reported in D42 (method of costs apportionment)? e.g. component costs which are calculated from a combination of building specific and site specific sources?

   A common sense view needs to be taken. If the majority of cost apportioning is calculated at a building level then this should be indicated as the basis of the return.

9. Should rates related to commercially rented properties be excluded from the figure in D28 (rates paid)?
   

   These rates should not be included if they are paid directly by the commercial entity or if the space occupied is not returned within the space data.

10. In item D32 (water and sewerage costs) what is included as 'sewerage'?

    The term 'sewerage' covers all waste water and trade effluent from buildings and for which charges are made.

11. Why is item D02.C14 (residential expenditure) no longer provided by HESA?

    D02.C14 'Residential expenditure' requires 'the exclusion of expenditure incurred in the provision of catering services and conferences, unless this expenditure is minimal'. The data returned to HESA in the Financial Statistics with HE-BCI collection does not break down the residential expenditure to exclude this amount and therefore institutions are required to provide this data through the EMS Return.

         Student/Staff counts

1. How should staff employed by other organisations working in the institutions’ space be recorded in D05 (FTE staff)? For example, how would health authority medical staff providing student services or contract cleaning staff be treated?

   These staff should not be included unless they occupy office space. In which case include them under D5.C04 (teaching total), C08 (support offices) or C12 (other non-residential) as appropriate. Therefore the medical staff or contract cleaning staff mentioned in the example should only be included where they take up office space, in which case these would both be categorised under C8 (support).

2. What determines whether or not staff are office based?

   The guiding principle should be that if a workstation capable of being used as a permanent place of work has been provided for them, then the staff should be included as office-based. Definition D05.C09 (support other) indicates the type of staff who are not likely to be office based.

3. How should visiting academic staff who have no office requirement be recorded?

   Visiting academic staff should be treated in terms of full-time equivalents. Thus someone who typically works seven hours each week on a 'standard' 35 hour week should be classed as 0.2 of a FTE. If sufficient visiting staff do not use an office, this will be reflected in a "better" space/square metre ratio.

4. What is the difference between academic support staff and central support staff?

   The total for academic staff should include all departmental staff supporting the teaching and research effort. Support staff who work for central departments, or who are not supporting department/faculty teaching and research effort should be categorised as central support.

5. How should medical staff be coded?

   Academic and academic support staff associated with such space should be included under the staffing heading as academic staff on a FTE basis. This includes staff on a 'joint contract' basis, who should be assigned an appropriate FTE in respect of their HEI role.

6. Should catering staff be included as part of residential or as part of support staff total?

   The intention is that catering staff should be included within Support. However, some catering staff will be embedded within residential space and a common sense approach needs to be taken.

7. How can distance learning staff be separated from normal academic staff?

   These staff will have to be allocated pro-rata. However, if the proportion of time spent on distance learning is low, include all such staff under the C4 (teaching total) heading. (Note: the floorspace associated with any distance learning staff should also fall within the 'Other' floorspace category if the staff associated with any distance learning have been identified).

8. Should staff working in space embedded in hospitals, for which the institution pays no charge, be included?

   The space itself should be excluded from the return but include the staff under the relevant classification if they are employed by the institution, either on a full or 'joint contract' basis.

9. How should contractual staff who are on long term contracts be treated?

   These staff should be included if they occupy space in your institution.

         Area

1. In the recording of space across the estate, should any leasehold space occupied be included? Similarly, if any teaching space is leased by the institution, should this be included?

   The return should be made for all space that is part of the operational estate, whether leased or owned outright. Any space held for investment purposes should be excluded. Additional teaching space leased from third parties should be included in the estate. Space which may be acquired by departments on an ad hoc basis, and which is not centrally recorded by the institution, should not be included.

2. What is meant by core/non-office teaching space?

   Core/non-office teaching space represents all teaching and other space used by departments to deliver a teaching service that is not classified as offices. This will include classrooms, laboratories, departmental stores and departmental libraries and other uses set out in definition C4 under D12 (net internal area). The distinction between office and non-office space applies similarly to research space. This would include both cellular and open planned space, where the space is used primarily by members of staff. It may be a primary base for a member of staff, or used to support academic functions.

3. What constitutes specialist academic space?

   If the space satisfies the definition set out in D14 (specialist academic area) then it should be treated as specialist space. The key purpose is to identify space which is inherently less flexible than other types of space.

4. How should NHS space on the institution’s sites be coded?

   If an institution is responsible for maintenance of the space, or pays rent and/or a service charge, then the space should be included in the institutional return. In the event that the institution is not responsible for maintenance, and does not pay rent and/or a service charge, the space should be excluded.

5. How should institutional space on NHS sites be treated?

   If an institution is responsible for maintenance of the space, or pays rent and/or a service charge, then the space should be included in the institutional return. In the event that the institution is not responsible for maintenance, and does not pay rent and/or a service charge, the space should be excluded.

6. In D8 (site area), the site area for C13 (non-residential) says to include the grounds area (recorded in D9). However, D9 includes residential areas. There is an apparent contradiction.

   In D8 (site area), do not include all of D9 (grounds area), only the non-residential component.

7. Is D14 (specialist academic space) a component part of the total net internal area recorded under D12 (net internal area)?

   Yes. Specialist academic area is a component part of teaching and/or research space. Thus, the area you have identified as 'specialist' will also be a part of that space recorded under parts C3 (teaching) and C6 (research) of definition D12 (net internal area).

8. How should large areas of special space that may affect results be returned?

   Include such areas under the relevant category and acknowledge that this will impact and affect the results. There will be an opportunity to provide information to explain these figures through the Minerva data quality database once the data has been committed.

9. How should self-catering space in student residences be classified?

   This should be included in residential space under item D12/C14 (net internal area - residential). 

10. How are 'internal partition walls' defined?

    Internal partition walls may be of various types, the common factor being that they are non-structural, i.e. they can be removed with no structural consequences for the building. Such walls are often of a lightweight form of construction and are used to sub-divide a large space. They may, or may not, continue from the structural floor to the structural soffit above i.e. whether or not such walls fall short of the ceiling is not the determining factor.

11. The University has one student residence block which is entirely leased to an external tenant. Should such buildings should be excluded?

    Yes, this building should be excluded from the EMS return because the residential space is not available as student accommodation.

12. Should staff residences be treated as 'non-residential' for the purposes of all definitions?

    D11 (gross internal area) should be compiled using the same inclusions and exclusions as defined under D12 (net internal area) so as to ensure comparability. Staff housing should therefore be classed as non-residential space.

13. D18/c14 (Occupancy rate - residential) refers to 'bedweeks' and also to the academic letting period. What is meant by these terms?

    A 'bedweek' is one bedspace occupied for one week. If an HEI has 1,000 beds each occupied/let for a 36 week year, this means that there are 36,000 bedweeks. Thus, by calculating a bedweek value for each space and summing them the total 'let' bedweeks per period can be seen. This should be expressed as a percentage of the total potential bedweeks, (i.e. assuming all the bedspaces are let for full year, or 36 weeks x 1,000 beds in this example). The academic year should exclude out-of-term periods and therefore any occupancy by overseas students in holiday periods should not enter into the calculation.

14. In measuring capacity and occupancy should the academic (i.e. lecturer) be included?

    No, the lecturer should not be included in the recording of room capacity.

15. Should the occupancy rate over a week include or exclude time blocks when the occupancy is zero?

    Occupancy rate should exclude time blocks when the occupancy is zero within either a 9-5 week, or the standard working week as appropriate.

16. Where a room is used both for teaching and research, how should it be recorded?

    Where space is used for dual purposes, an attribution on the basis outlined under heading D41 (method of space apportionment) should be used. As such, the primary function of the room should be returned.

17. Where a building opens half way through the reporting year and therefore only incurs 50% of running costs, should only 50% of NIA be returned so the ratios are more accurate?

    An accurate reflection of the estate would be to report the full NIA, as the definitions do not stipulate that the usable space must only be returned in full where it has been available throughout the year.

18. How should area data for buildings owned between two HEIs be returned?

    If the GIA/NIA is owned, occupied or maintained by the HEI, then the space should be included. Where the partnership is between two EMS reporting institutions an apportionment should be made between the HEIs.

19. Where rooms require set up by technicians before use should this time be included in frequency rates?

    This time should not be included in frequency rate calculations.

         Condition

1. If the condition survey is out of date, should this data be returned to ensure a complete return?

   If any survey data does not appropriately capture the reality then it is better to make no return. Any data returned must be supportable by audit.

Data collection system

1. The historic data supplied in the webform appears incorrect, why is the data not as it appeared in the IPD reporting tool?

   The historic data displayed in the webform was provided by the Funding Council rather than to IPD. Where institutions have made changes to the data post-collection these changes may not have been included in the data sent to the Funding Council. These changes are however marginal and should not significantly affect ratio calculations.

2. How is data submitted to HESA?

   Data can no longer be submitted using a spreadsheet. Institutions must use the webform made available on the data collection system https://submit.hesa.ac.uk. Guidance on using the system can be found at http://www.hesa.ac.uk/submit-help-ems.

3. How is the data collection system accessed?

   Prior to the collection opening, record contacts will be sent an access code and a PIN code which will enable them to register for the system. HESA are unable to provide this information to anyone other than the named record contact, however the contact can distribute this information internally at their discretion. Details on how to register for the collection can be found at http://www.hesa.ac.uk/submit-reg.

4. Is there an opportunity to review the data and outputs before it is published?

   Yes, once data has been submitted a series of reports are produced, including a ratio report. Institutions are advised to scrutinise these reports to ensure that the data is correct before the collection closes.

5. Is there an opportunity to correct the data after the system has closed?

   There is no opportunity to submit revisions to the 2008/09 data, however from 2009/10 onwards it will be possible to make amendments. These changes would be made through the Fixed database, which is a chargeable service. The Fixed database process is separate from the main data collection and will only be available to an institution on the explicit instruction of the appropriate statutory customer e.g. Funding Council. Furthermore, statutory customers will only approve specific changes to the collection and so institutions will need to get approval for every field they wish to change. Institutions should also be aware that onward use of information, for example in HESA publications, will be based on the original data collected and not on any amended data. This is because the availability of the Fixed database necessarily extends well beyond the publication date of information. The formal agreements with statutory customers provide for HESA making a charge to institutions for use of the Fixed database. It has been agreed that for the Estates Management Statistics return this charge is set at 10% of the institution's annual subscription, subject to a cap of £3,500. This charge does not attract VAT. Institutions can also provide caveats to the data where the data items are known to be incorrect. This is done through the Minerva data quality database, or by contacting liaison@hesa.ac.uk.

Formatting and printing

1. When printing the webform using Internet Explorer the cells run across pages. How can I overcome this?

   If using Internet Explorer the form will print more clearly if you change the page layout to landscape and select 'size to fit' before printing.

2. Is it possible to have a .PDF version of the Data definitions?

   This has been trialled, but there is no identifiable difference in printed output between a .PDF and a landscape (scaled to 80% in Internet Explorer) printed version of the current .HTML Data definitions.