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Board of Scrutiny

Helen Thompson
Normal
Stephen John Cowley
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2004-02-27T12:55:00Z
2004-05-08T14:38:00Z
2004-05-08T14:38:00Z
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4038
Social & Political Sciences
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Board
of Scrutiny

 

Thursday 26 February 2004

 

Robinson College

Garden Room

 

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

 

1.      
Apologies

Roger
Salmon.

 

2.      
Minutes of the meeting of 19 February 2004

The
Board confirmed the minutes with some minor corrections.

 

3.      
Matters arising

 

3.1.    
Administrative support

The
Chair confirmed that Personnel had graded the position of support officer for
the Board at A02. He noted that he is now waiting for the Registrary formally
to say that money is available before advertising can proceed. He reaffirmed
that the Chair would be the formal manager of the officer. He reported that he
had ascertained that it would be possible to house the officer in the Proctors’
office.

 

3.2.    
Meeting with the Council on 19 February 2004

The
Board accepted the record of the meeting with some minor amendments.

 

Elisabeth
Leedham-Green reported that Professor Brown and George Reid had reported to
Council that the meeting on 19 February was constructive. Others on the
Council, she noted, had raised the question of changes to the ordinances
relating to the Board.

 

The
Chair circulated a letter that he had received after the meeting from the
Registrary. The Board agreed that it had not suggested, or wished to suggest,
that it should see Council reports in draft form. Rather, it suggests a change
to the timetable for Reports that would allow sufficient time for the Board to
make considered responses before Discussions. The Board agreed that the Chair
would reply to the Registrary’s letter, stressing that whilst the Board
understood the limitations of its role, its purposes were those defined by the
statutes and the ordinances. The
Board also agreed that it wished to work to improve relations with the Council.

 

ACTION: The
Chair to write to the Registrary
.

 

3.3.    
The University’s strategy

 

The
Board agreed that David Phillipson’s revised working paper on strategy would
inform its Ninth Annual Report. The Board agreed to request any papers that
there are on the question of a strategy for the University which have gone to
University committees.

 

ACTION: The
Chair to write to the Registrary to request any documents that exist.

 

3.4.    
The Building Maintenance Fund

Nick
Holmes reported that he had heard no further news from the Pro-Vice-Chancellor
for Planning and Resources.

 

 

3.5.    
Audit management letter

The
Chair reported that he had received a copy of the audit management letter that
he circulated to the Board. The Board agreed to consider the letter in detail
at its next meeting and identified some preliminary areas for discussion: (i)
department sign-offs; (ii) the continuing question of consolidated accounts;
(iii) the total return policy on amalgamated fund investment, particularly the
issue of the income policy of the University.

 

3.6.    
Request for the Blue Book

The
Chair reported that he had requested the Blue Book from the Director of Finance
but had not received a reply.

 

3.7.    
The University’s investments

The
Chair reported that he had requested the letter sent to the University’s
investment fund managers and any minutes on discussions of alternatives to the
present management of investments from
the Director of Finance but had not received a reply.

 

4.      
Preparation of the Board’s Annual Report

The
Board agreed that it would begin its work for the Annual Report by looking inter alia at: (i) the statutory
reports; (ii) RAM; (iii) the University’s financial position; (iv) governance,
which will include the role of the Council, the Pro-Vice Chancellors, the K9
statute, and the implementation of commitments made by the Council; (v) HERA;
(vi) the position of statutes and ordinances on contracts and supplementary
payments.

 

5.      
The Staff Development seminar

Stephen Cowley reported that he had attended the
presentation given by the Registrary to the Staff

Development
seminar. He noted that there were some issues for the future in the
Registrary’s remarks about the purposes of Pro-Vice-Chancellors, and the
responsibility for decisions between different University committees. John
Spencer reported that in his presentation to the seminar he had explained the
purpose of the Board of Scrutiny and the ways that it worked over the past few
years.

 

6.      
Any other business

 

6.1.    
Management Information Services Division (MISD)

The Board agreed to
request a meeting with the Director of MISD and that the delegation for the
meeting would be Stephen Cowley, Jennifer Rigby, and Elisabeth Leedham-Green.

 

ACTION: The
Chair to write to the Director of MISD to request a meeting.

 

6.2.    
Estates Plan

The
Board agreed to approach the Director of Estate Management and Building Service
(EMBS) to request a copy of the plan.

 

ACTION: Nick
Holmes to write to the Director of EMBS
.

 

7.      
Date of next meeting: 11 March 2004