27 September 2002 Minutes

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF SCRUTINY ON 27/09/02

The last meeting of the
Board in the Academical Year 2001-2 was held at 12.00 on Thursday, 27 September
2002 in the West Lodge, Downing College.

Members Present. Dr S.E.
Lintott (Chairman), Dr D.J. Chivers, Prof. J.R. Spencer, Mr T. N. Milner, Dr O.
Rackham, Mr JD McDonald, Dr H.E. Thompson, Mr D.R. Howarth, Dr R.H. Lachmann,
Dr C Forsyth and Dr E. Leedham-Green.

Apologies were received from
Dr V.E. Izzet, Dr S.J. Cowley and Mrs J.M. Rigby

1)         
The Chairman welcomed
the new members of the Board.

2)         
The minutes of the
meeting of 1 July were approved.

3)         
Matters arising: The
Chairman reported that the process of identifying the next Vice chancellor was
proceeding.

4)         
Matters to report: The
Chairman reported that the executive council is considering its legal position
concerning CAPSA. The Board felt that this was an example of a situation where
the University might have benefited from having its own in house lawyers.

5)         
Provisional election of
Chairman for 2002-2003:  Dr Lintott
nominated Prof Spencer to be the new Chairman of the Board.  The nomination was seconded by Dr
Lachmann.  There was a vote and Prof
Spencer was provisionally elected unanimously.

6)         
Provisional election of
Secretary for 2002:2003: Dr Lachmann nominated Dr Cowley to be the new
Secretary of the Board.  The nomination
was seconded by Dr Lintott.  There was a
vote and Dr Cowley was provisionally elected unanimously.

7)         
The Board thanked Dr
Lintott for her excellent work as Chairman of the Board.  Thanks were also expressed to Mr Milner and
Dr Lachmann for their respective contributions as Secretary.

8)         
The Seventh Report:
This will be discussed at the next meeting of the Board.

9)         
Clerical support:  The Chairman reported that money was in fact
available for this post.  It was decided
to draft an advert to go into the Reporter.

10)      Possible subjects for scrutiny:

a)         
Dr Howarth suggested
that the Board should investigate what performance management procedures the
University has in place to ensure that its policies are implemented.

b)         
The Board as a whole
felt that it would be important to continue to focus on the University’s
finances.  The continuing expansion
seems to be of particular concern and it was suggested that the English faculty
and 307 Huntingdon Road might be particularly suitable projects for scrutiny.

c)          
The University’s new
policy on IPR is also likely to generate much debate within the University in
the coming year and the Board should keep abreast of this.

11)       The next
meeting will take place on Thursday 10 October, 2002.