10 October 2002 Minutes
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 andSecretary. JohnSpencer was nominated as Chairman by Susan Lintott and seconded by RobinLachmann. Stephen Cowley was nominated as Secretary by Robin Lachmann andseconded 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 meetingof 27 September 2002. Signingof the minutes was deferred to the next meeting.
Matters arising:
a)Appointment of new VC:conflicts of interest. Correspondencewith the Chairman of the Search Committee was noted. No further action wasdeemed necessary.
The University’s Register of Interests was discussed. Itwas decided to inspect the current Registerof Interests.
Action: Secretary to ask the Registrary for a copy ofthe Register of Interests.
b)CAPSA/CUFS. Susan Lintott reported on thecurrent legal position.
A list of the inadequacies of theResearch Grants Module was reported.
Dissatisfaction was expressedconcerning the response of Council to our Report on CAPSA because it had notresponded to many matters of substance.
3)Forthcoming Discussionof the Seventh Report on Tuesday 15 October 2002. It was agreed that the Chairmanwould make some opening remarks briefly summarising the Report.
4)Governance reforms. There was a brief report of theDiscussion of 8 October 2002. It was noted that most speakers opposed thereforms, and that Anthony Edwards had questioned their legality.
5)Council elections. It was noted that there are Councilelections this term.
6)Possible programme ofwork.
a)Follow-up of matters inhand.
i)Decision making aboutbuildings. There was adiscussion over the events leading up to the Report on, and Discussion of, thenew English Building. It was agreed to write to the Registrary to ask whom itwould 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 newCancer Research UK building, e.g. as to how far the University were committedbefore the Report on the new building was to be Discussed. Similar questionsmay be relevant to the new primate building on Huntingdon Road.
Action: Susan Lintott and the Secretary to check wherethe proposal forthe primate centre hasgot to in the University’s decision-making process.
Marconi building. The Secretary will take up certain matters with theRegistrary
ii)Staff numbers. Figures for new staff had beencalculated by the personnel office. These suggested that there had been asignificant increase in both academic and academic-related staff paid for fromcentral funds at a time when it was already known that the University was goinginto deficit. The Board decided to follow up with a visit to Peter Deer by theSecretary, Helen Thompson and Jennifer Rigby.
Action. The Secretary to arrange a meeting with PeterDeer.
b)Visits to PrincipalOfficers and Directors. Inaddition to visiting Peter Deer, it was also agreed to ask Malcolm Grant if hewould be willing to meet with the Chairman, Secretary and Susan Lintott todiscuss the deficit.
Action: Chairman to seek a meeting with Malcolm Grant.
c)Intellectual propertyrights (IPR). It wasnoted that the Council’s Report had generated much discussion in the Universityand the Press. It was not clear whether the Board should take an interest inthis subject. However, it was agreed that Christopher Forsyth would report onthe legal position at the next meeting.
d)Archives. At the suggestion of ElizabethLeedham-Green Board, theBoard resolved to raise with the Registrary matters relating to recordsmanagement in the University.
e)Time allocation survey. It was reported that the Universityhad been unwilling to provide the definition of a working week. It was surmisedthat this might have something to do with the IPR issue.
f)Legal matters. In the light of correspondence froma member of Regent House, the Board resolved to make enquiries about thecurrent practices of the University in obtaining outside legal advice, andprogress towards setting up its own internal legal service.
g)Other ideas. There was a discussion as to howthe stipends are set for the Deputy Directors.
7)Working methods. It was agreed that the methodsadopted last year had worked well, and the Board would continue to follow them
8)Any other business. It was reported that an advert foradministrative help should appear in the Reporter.
The meeting ended at 2.15 p.m.The nextmeeting will be held at noon on Thursday 24 October 2002 at Selwyn College.