Board ofScrutiny

Noon, Thursday 25 November 2004

New SCR, SelwynCollege

Present: Stephen Cowley,Margaret Glendenning,Nicholas Holmes, Timothy Milner,Saskia Murk-Jansen,David Phillipson, Nick Pyper, Jennifer Rigby,John Spencer (Chairman), Helen Thompson (Secretary)

In attendance: Tessa Payne

1.Apologies

John Little

2.Minutesof previous meeting

These were agreed.

3.Mattersarising

There were no matters arising, other than those already onthe agenda.

4.Discussionon HERA

It was confirmed that the Board’s response to the HERAconsultation had been submitted and placed on the Board of Scrutiny website. Itwas noted that the Secretary has asked Susan Bowring to publish the url of the Board’s response in theReporter, but had as yet had no response confirming this.It was agreed that the Secretary wouldformally ask the editor of The Reporter and the Registrarywhether the Board’s request had been agreed to, and, if not, ask how can theBoard’s response could be made more widely available.

It was noted that in considering the responses to HERA, thePersonnel Committee had received only summarised versions of each response,rather than the full responses.It wasagreed that the Chairman would send members of the Personnel Committee a copyof the full response from the Board of Scrutiny, restating the level of theBoard’s concern about the implementation of HERA.It was also agreed that the Secretary wouldformally request from Peter Deer copies of the papers that were given to thePersonnel Committee at their meeting on 23 November.

The Board considered the response received from Peter Deerto questions recently posed to him by members of the Board regarding HERA.It was agrees that Stephen Cowley would respond, asking if this was a full response,and, if so, indicating that the Board felt that it did not address all thequestions in a satisfactory way.

5.Membershipof the Board: by-election

The Board noted that a nomination had been received for NickDowner, the Bursar of Selwyn, and that he was willing to stand forelection.Other expressions of interestare awaited.

6.NinthReport: query by the Council on staffing figures

The Board discussed the query received from the Councilregarding the staff figures quoted in its Ninth Report.The Board confirmed the method that had beenused to arrive at the quoted figures, and recalled that they had been unable toobtain a breakdown of the level of increase of unestablishedacademic-related staff when they had requested one.This difficulty had, however, beenhighlighted in the Ninth Report.

It was noted that a response from the Board by the end ofthe week had been requested by Susan Bowring.It was agreed that the Chairman would prepare a short letter outliningwhat had been done, and the reasons for doing it, and attaching the two pagesof figures that had formed the basis for the calculation.It was also agreed that attention should bedrawn to the fact that there is no definition of academic-related staff in theStatutes and Ordinances, and that it was therefore difficult to be consistentin deriving the figures.

7.Updateon arrangements for meeting with the Board of Graduate Studies

It was agreed that the Secretary would contact the Board ofGraduate Studies and request a meeting to discuss CAMPSIS and graduate studentadmissions strategy and procedures.

Any members of the Board interested could attend, and themeeting should ideally be held before Christmas.

8.Datesof next meeting

The next meeting of the Board will be held on Tuesday 252005 January at noon.It was agreed thatthe Chairman would establish whether Selwyn was able to offer a room for themeetings during the term.

It was noted that a provisional meeting was booked for noonon Friday 14 January, to enable the Board to discuss the Annual Report of theCouncil and the General Board Financial Statements, should the Discussion ofthese documents be scheduled for 17 January 2005.

9.Anyother business

The programme of work for the Lent Term was discussed.It was agreed that it would be helpful toestablish contact with the Pro Vice-Chancellors, and that the Secretary shouldinvite Professor Andy Cliff to join the Board for lunch at one of theirscheduled meetings.

It was also agreed that the Secretary should request ameeting with Andrew Reid in the period between the publication of the Abstractof Accounts and the Discussion on them.

It was agreed that Stephen Cowleyshould discuss with Ian Troupe the mechanisms and timings associated withmanaging the University’s Risk Register.

It was agreed that Margaret Glendenningwould brief the Board on counter terrorism and student selection at theirJanuary meeting.