Board of
Scrutiny

Noon, Tuesday 22 February 2005

Chadwick Room, Selwyn
College

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

In
attendance: Tessa Payne

1.      
Apologies

Helen
Thompson   

2.      
Minutes
of previous meeting

These
were agreed.

3.      
Matters
arising

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

It
was agreed that both a short and long response to the comments of Charles
Larkum should be prepared.  The short
version would be sent to the Council for official publication, and the longer
version to be sent to Charles Larkum. 
Council would be advised that the Board had written directly to Mr
Larkum in greater detail.  John Spencer
would review the existing draft response and circulate for comment,

The
Board discussed the issue of potential conflicts of interest of members who
served on other University or College committees.  It was agreed that the formal restrictions
that already exist in the Statutes and Ordinances were satisfactory, but that
the Board would need to continue to be sensitive to potential conflicts of
interest that might arise.

It
was noted that a response had been received from Graham Allen regarding the consultation
on leadership, governance & management.

4.      
Report
on meeting with Board of Graduate Studies

At
the meeting with representatives from the Board of Graduate Studies (BGS) on 8
February, the issues of workload, resourcing levels and the modernisation of
processes had been discussed.  Temporary
staff were employed to help process applications within two weeks.  Both CAMSIS and CAMGRAD were proving
useful.  The relationships with Cambridge
Trusts were becoming increasingly integrated, assisted by changing deadlines
for applications.  The Board agreed that
BGS was doing a good job, despite the limited resources.

It
was noted that the Transferable Skills money was managed by BGS to support graduate
and postdoctoral students.  BGS would like
to develop what they can offer to this group of students, but they have no
resources at present.

5.      
Report
on Discussion held on 1 February – annual Reports of the Council and General
Board, and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 July 2004.

The
Board noted that John Spencer had given his speech and that there was nothing
else to report.

6.      
Student
bursaries

The
Board discussed the various sources of student funding available, and agreed that
there was not sufficient easily accessible information circulated within the
University about these issues to enable staff to inform themselves.  It was also felt that CU should do more to
generate positive publicity, particularly in view of its laudable efforts to
avoid the creation of a poverty trap for average income families.

7.      
Discussion
on counter-terrorism paper

The
Board discussed the implications of counter-terrorism legislation on the
reporting requirements of the University. 
It was noted that it generates huge amount of paperwork, due in part to
the legislation being put together by non-practitioners.  The burden was increased within CU due to the
fragmentation of the University structure, and it was suggested that
consideration should be given to the employment of a University Compliance
Officer.

8.      
Date
of next meeting

The
next meeting will be held at noon on Tuesday 8 March in the Chadwick Room at Selwyn College.  The meeting will be chaired by David
Phillipson until the arrival of John Spencer.

9.      
Any
other business

Concern was voiced as to whether the issues raised in the Audit minutes
on a possible future 'deficit' of the USS pension scheme were being acted on sufficiently
quickly to enable them to be built into the University planning process.

It
was agreed that the next agenda should include discussion of a shortlist of
topics for annual report.