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Board of Scrutiny

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Stephen John Cowley
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2002-10-14T19:12:00Z
2002-11-07T15:52:00Z
2002-11-07T15:52:00Z
3
713
4065
University of Cambridge
33
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4992
9.2720

Board of Scrutiny

 

Minutes of the Meeting Held at Noon on

Thursday 10 October 2002 at Selwyn College

 

Present: Stephen Cowley, Robin Lachmann, Susan Lintott,
Jack MacDonald, Timothy Milner, Christopher Forsyth, Elisabeth Leedham-Green,
Oliver Rackham, Jennifer Rigby John Spencer, Helen Thompson.

 

Apologies: David Howarth.

 

1)    
Election of Chairman and
Secretary.
John
Spencer was nominated as Chairman by Susan Lintott and seconded by Robin
Lachmann. Stephen Cowley was nominated as Secretary by Robin Lachmann and
seconded by Susan Lintott. Both were elected nem com.

Action: Secretary to inform the Registrary.

 

Action: Previous office holders to transfer records,
etc. to new office holders.

 

2)    
Minutes of the meeting
of 27 September 2002.
Signing
of the minutes was deferred to the next meeting.

 

Matters arising:

 

a)    
Appointment of new VC:
conflicts of interest.
Correspondence
with the Chairman of the Search Committee was noted. No further action was
deemed necessary.

 

The University’s Register of Interests was discussed. It
was decided to inspect the current Register
of Interests
.

 

Action: Secretary to ask the Registrary for a copy of
the Register of Interests.

 

b)    
CAPSA/CUFS. Susan Lintott reported on the
current legal position.

 

A list of the inadequacies of the
Research Grants Module was reported.

 

Dissatisfaction was expressed
concerning the response of Council to our Report on CAPSA because it had not
responded to many matters of substance.

 

 

3)    
Forthcoming Discussion
of the Seventh Report on Tuesday 15 October 2002.
It was agreed that the Chairman
would make some opening remarks briefly summarising the Report.

 

 

 

4)    
Governance reforms. There was a brief report of the
Discussion of 8 October 2002. It was noted that most speakers opposed the
reforms, and that Anthony Edwards had questioned their legality.

 

5)    
Council elections. It was noted that there are Council
elections this term.

 

6)    
Possible programme of
work.

 

a)    
Follow-up of matters in
hand.

 

i)       
Decision making about
buildings.
There was a
discussion over the events leading up to the Report on, and Discussion of, the
new English Building. It was agreed to write to the Registrary to ask whom it
would be appropriate to approach both for an explanation and for the documents.

 

Action: Susan Lintott to draft letter to Registrary.

 

There was a discussion of the new
Cancer Research UK building, e.g. as to how far the University were committed
before the Report on the new building was to be Discussed. Similar questions
may be relevant to the new primate building on Huntingdon Road.

 

Action: Susan Lintott and the Secretary to check where
the proposal for  the primate centre has
got to in the University’s decision-making process.

 

Marconi building. The Secretary will take up certain matters with the
Registrary

 

ii)     
Staff numbers. Figures for new staff had been
calculated by the personnel office. These suggested that there had been a
significant increase in both academic and academic-related staff paid for from
central funds at a time when it was already known that the University was going
into deficit. The Board decided to follow up with a visit to Peter Deer by the
Secretary, Helen Thompson and Jennifer Rigby.

 

Action. The Secretary to arrange a meeting with Peter
Deer.

 

b)    
Visits to Principal
Officers and Directors.
In
addition to visiting Peter Deer, it was also agreed to ask Malcolm Grant if he
would be willing to meet with the Chairman, Secretary and Susan Lintott to
discuss the deficit.

 

Action: Chairman to seek a meeting with Malcolm Grant.

 

c)     
Intellectual property
rights (IPR).
It was
noted that the Council’s Report had generated much discussion in the University
and the Press. It was not clear whether the Board should take an interest in
this subject. However, it was agreed that Christopher Forsyth would report on
the legal position at the next meeting.

 

 

 

d)    
Archives. At the suggestion of Elizabeth
Leedham-Green Board, t
he
Board resolved to raise with the Registrary matters relating to records
management in the University.

 

e)    
Time allocation survey. It was reported that the University
had been unwilling to provide the definition of a working week. It was surmised
that this might have something to do with the IPR issue.

 

f)       
Legal matters. In the light of correspondence from
a member of Regent House, the Board resolved to make enquiries about the
current practices of the University in obtaining outside legal advice, and
progress towards setting up its own internal legal service.

 

g)    
Other ideas. There was a discussion as to how
the stipends are set for the Deputy Directors.

 

7)    
Working methods. It was agreed that the methods
adopted last year had worked well, and the Board would continue to follow them

 

8)    
Any other business. It was reported that an advert for
administrative help should appear in the Reporter.

 

 

The meeting ended at 2.15 p.m.  The next
meeting will be held at noon on
Thursday 24 October 2002 at Selwyn College.