Reporter 7/2/01: Annual Report of the Council for 1999-2000: Notice

Annual Report of the Council for 1999-2000: Notice

29 January 2001

The Council are in the process of considering the remarks made at the Discussion of their Annual Report on 16 January 2001 (p. 391) and intend to publish a detailed response as soon as possible. However, several speakers raised the question of the CAPSA project and the Council's response to the points raised at the Discussion on 10 October 2000 concerning the project's implementation, and the Council have agreed that a prompt response to these remarks is desirable.

In their Notice published on 31 January 2001 (p. 403), the Council set out the strategy and terms of reference for the conduct of a Review of the project and its implementation which were proposed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Council at their meeting on 29 January 2001. Many of the points raised at this and the earlier Discussion will be addressed in the Review.

The Council have indicated previously that they were aware of the distress caused to many dedicated staff; this was a matter of great concern to them, and they have expressed their gratitude to all staff for their efforts to implement the new system. They appreciate that the system, although much improved, continues to cause concern in certain areas.

Dr de Lacey raised the question of the payments made to staff in recognition of their efforts towards the implementation of CAPSA. The detailed arrangements for these payments were made by the Personnel Committee which recommended two levels of payment, £300 and £500, available for staff in both Council and General Board institutions who were exposed to additional work and inconvenience because of CAPSA. Payments were made on the recommendation of the Head of each institution.

Following the Discussion on 10 October 2000 the Council sought advice from the CAPSA Steering Committee over many of the detailed questions raised. The Steering Committee has now been replaced by the Financial Systems Management Committee (p. 300). The new Management Committee is charged with overseeing the University's Financial System and will be asked to take on the responsibility of considering the questions raised at the Discussion. It is expected that this Committee will report to the Council at an early date.

The Annual Report, which was published on 24 November 2000, looked backwards to the Council's activities up to 30 September 2000, soon after the new system had been introduced. It could not therefore include any reference to the numerous discussions and meetings which have been held on CAPSA since that date.

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