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Board of Scrutiny

Helen Thompson
Normal
Stephen John Cowley
3
71
2004-02-16T10:55:00Z
2004-05-10T14:08:00Z
2004-05-10T14:09:00Z
2
717
4091
Social & Political Sciences
34
8
5024
9.6926

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Board
of Scrutiny

 

Thursday 12 February 2004

 

Robinson College

Garden Room

 

 

Present:
Mantas Adomenas, Stephen Cowley, Christopher Forsyth (chair), Nicholas Holmes,
Elisabeth Leedham-Green, Saskia Murk-Jansen, Timothy Milner, David Phillipson,
Jennifer Rigby, Roger Salmon, John Spencer (from 12.50), Helen Thompson.

 

 

1.      
Apologies

        John Spencer for the first part of the
meting

 

2.      
Minutes of the meeting of 29 January 2004

        The Board
confirmed the minutes with a correction to a typo.

 

3.      
Matters arising

 

3.1.   
Administrative support

The Chair reported that he had been in contact with
one of the role analysts in the Personnel division and as a result had produced
the required paper work for proceeding with an advertisement for the position
of a support officer for the Board. The role analyst had advised him that the
post should be at AO2 level with a contract to work for 240 hours a year.  He also informed the Board that he had
conveyed the Board’s view that the person appointed be given a laptop but that
Personnel had not yet made a decision on this issue

 

ACTION: The Chair to continue to liaise with
Personnel.

 

3.2.   
Meeting with the Council on 19 February 2004

  The Chair
reported that the delegation from the Council would arrive for the meeting at
1.15.  The Board agreed to send the
Registrary and the members of the delegation a draft agenda prior to the
meeting.

 

ACTION: The Chair and Secretary to prepare an agenda
and send it to the Registrary.

 

3.3.   
The building maintenance fund

Nick Holmes
reported that during further correspondence with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for
Planning and Resources he has ascertained that the Abstract of Accounts
published in July 2003 had allocated an erroneous sum of SRIF 2 money to
maintenance over a two-year period.

 

ACTION: Nick Holmes to
continue his correspondence with the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Planning and
Resources.

 

3.4.   
Meeting with the Vice-Chancellor

The Chair
reported that the Vice-Chancellor had agreed to attend the meeting of the Board
on 22 April.

 

3.5.   
Audit management letter

The Chair reported that the Registrary had informed
him that the University had received the HEFCE audit management letter. The
letter would go to the Council on 23 February and the Board would receive it
immediately after that meeting.

 

3.6.   
Meeting with the Registrary

                  The Board confirmed the record
of the meeting.

 

4.      
The effectiveness of Council

Roger Salmon circulated a paper that he had written
for the Board to discuss on the functioning of the Council. The Board discussed
the issues raised in the paper. It agreed to send an amended version of the
paper to the Registrary and members of the Council attending the meeting with
the Board on 19 February.

 

Roger Salmon circulated a second paper, outlining some
of the strategic issues facing the University. The Board agreed to discuss the
issues raised in this paper at its next meeting.

 

                  ACTION: Roger Salmon to revise the paper on
Council and the Chair to send to the Registrary and the delegation of the
Council. David Phillipson to expand the paper on the strategic issues facing the
University.

 

5.      
Invitation to Chair to serve on a Council committee

The Chair reported that he had been invited to serve
on a Council committee that will consider the voting system used in the
University. The Board agreed that in its view it would be better for Dr
Forsythe to serve as his own person rather than as Chairman of the Board. The
Board also agreed that the committee should include an expert in probability.

 

ACTION:
The Chair to accept invitation in a personal capacity and suggest in doing so
that a mathematician be invited to serve on the committee.

 

6.      
Requests for documents

        The Board agreed to ask formally for the
Blue Book each year and the accompanying data-sheet.

 

ACTION:
The Chair to ask for last year’s Blue Book and data-sheet from the Director of
Finance.

 

7.      
The University’s investments

Stephen Cowley reported that he had heard that there
was some disquiet in some quarters that the University’s investments are still
managed by a single firm. The Board agreed to ascertain what mandate the Investment
Committee had given the investment fund managers used by the University.

 

ACTION: The Chair to write to the Director of Finance to
request (i) the letter sent to the University’s investment fund managers
and  (ii) any minutes on discussions of
alternatives to the present management of investments.

 

8.      
Preparation of the Board’s Annual Report

        The Board agreed that it would once
again produce an Annual Report.

 

9.      
 Any other
business

 

9.1.   
Staff Development course

John Spencer reported that he had given, earlier
in the week, a presentation about the Board’s role in the governance of the
University to the Staff Development course.

 

9.2.   
Freedom of
Information Act

The Board noted that Faculties and Departments
would need clear guidelines about how to deal with possible requests under the
Act from 1 January 2005.

 

10.   
 Date of the
next meeting:
19 February 2004