19 June 2003 Minutes
Board of Scrutiny
Minutes of the Meeting Heldat Noon on
Thursday 19 June 2003 at Selwyn College
Present: JohnSpencer (Chairman), Christopher Forsyth, Robin Lachmann, ElisabethLeedham-Green, Timothy Milner, Oliver Rackham and Jennifer Rigby.
Apologies:Stephen Cowley, David Howarth, SusanLintott, Jack McDonald and Helen Thompson.
1)Minutesof the meeting held on 5 June 2003. These were approved.
2)Mattersarising.
a)Electionsto the Board.The Chairman noted with satisfaction thehigh turnout in the recent election, which with 1,280 votes cast was almostexactly comparable to the last Council election.Those elected to serve for four years from 1 October 2003 wereProfessor David Phillipson, Dr Nicholas Holmes and Mr Roger Salmon.Dr Mantas Adomenas had been electedunopposed as the under 35 candidate.
b)FinanceWorking Party: Special Studies.The Chairman reported that hehad been to a meeting with the Vice-Chancellor that morning.The V-C had informed him that the Boardwould now be given access to the Special Studies, so that no furtherrepresentations on this matter were necessary.The V-C had then delivered a trenchant attack on the Board and its work,accusing it of having done great damage to the University.The Board stood accused of encouragingdamaging publicity about the University and especially of promoting thesuggestion that the University was facing bankruptcy.The Chairman strongly denied these charges and pointed to casesin which the Board had clearly exercised discretion when in possession ofsensitive information.The Chairmanalso denied that the Board perceived itself as an alternative “government” ofthe University and emphasized that the role of the Board was reactive andinvestigatory, not executive.Thecriticism seemed to be an attempt to “shoot the messenger” because the Boardhad identified things that were going wrong and had brought them to widerattention in its reports to the University.
3)AllocationsReport.The Board noted that this had just beenpublished in the Reporter and it was noted that one member of Council, RossAnderson, had not signed it.Althoughnot all those present had yet read the Report, the following comments weremade.
a)The Boardshould write to the Registrary, asking for a copy of the Approved DevelopmentPlan for the UAS, a draft of which had gone to Council in February 2002.
b)It was notedthat a number of extra Finance Officers were being recruited to serve in theSchools and that funds were being made available to recruit extra staff forEnglish and Criminology.The allocationfor building maintenance had also increased.
c)The Boardobserved that the projected deficit for the year ahead was to fall from £8.2 to£5.0 million, while endowment and investment income was projected to rise by22.2%.
d)Only£200,000 had been allowed for severance payments and under-funded pensions.
e)It wasagreed that the Finance Sub-Committee would examine the Report in more detail.
4)The EastForum.The Board noted the publication of a Reporton this proposed development.Variousquestions were raised about details and in particular the funding arrangementsand the ownership of IPR.The Chairmanresolved to speak to a colleague about the IPR question.
5)TheEighth Report.The Chairman commented on the urgent need toget this into draft form.Members werereminded that the final draft had to be ready by 14 July for comment by theprincipal officers, so that it could then go to Council on 21 July.It was suggested that the section ongovernance should comment on the OPM Report and the problem of theaccountability of committees and officers.
6)Any OtherBusiness and Date of Next Meeting.In view of the low attendanceand the need to concentrate on writing the Board’s Eighth Report, no otherbusiness was discussed.The nextmeeting would be on Thursday 3 July.The meeting closed at 1.25 p.m.