No 6400
Wednesday 21 October 2015
Vol cxlvi No 5
pp. 52–62
24 October, Saturday. Congregation of the Regent House at 11 a.m (see p. 57).
27 October, Tuesday. Discussion at 2 p.m. in the Senate-House (see below).
1 November, Sunday. All Saint’s Day. Commemoration of Benefactors. Scarlet Day. Preacher before the University at 11.15 a.m., Professor Judith. M. Lieu, R, Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity (Lady Margaret’s Preacher).
3 November, Tuesday. Discussion at 2 p.m. in the Senate-House (see below).
8 November, Sunday. Remembrance Sunday.
9 November, Monday. Michaelmas Term divides.
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Discussions (at 2 p.m.) |
Congregations |
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27 October |
24 October, Saturday at 11 a.m. |
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3 November |
28 November, Saturday at 2 p.m. |
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10 November |
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24 November |
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8 December |
The Vice-Chancellor invites those qualified under the regulations for Discussions (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 107) to attend a Discussion in the Senate-House, on Tuesday, 27 October 2015, at 2 p.m. for the discussion of:
1. Report of the Council, dated 13 October 2015, on works to improve access to the ground floor of the Old Schools (Reporter, 6399, 2015–16, p. 40).
2. Report of the General Board, dated 7 October 2015, on the introduction of an Archaeology Tripos (Reporter, 6399, 2015–16, p. 43).
The Vice-Chancellor gives notice that he has accepted with gratitude a benefaction of approximately 22,000 art history books and catalogues from Sir Alan Bowness, to be collected by the University on a phased basis.
The Council has agreed that there should be an opportunity for the discussion of a topic of concern on Phase 1 of the North West Cambridge development.
The Council’s Finance Committee, at its meeting on 8 July 2015, received a revised financial appraisal for Phase 1 of the development. This indicated that potential cost overruns were forecast for the project which breached certain of the financial parameters set by the University, in particular the internal borrowing limit. This was reported to the Council on 13 July 2015, and the Audit Committee was asked to commission an urgent investigation into the governance and management structures that had enabled projected costs to escalate to such a degree without the issue having come sooner to the attention of the Finance Committee and other University officers and bodies. The Audit Committee established an Audit Group to conduct the investigation.
The Audit Group’s work is in two parts: (i) an examination of the causes for the projected cost overruns and identification of the reasons why issues were not reported sooner; and (ii) a more detailed assessment of the governance and delivery arrangements for the project, to identify lessons that can be learned for the future in undertaking similar large-scale developments, including successive phases of the project. The Council, at its meeting on 19 October 2015, received the Audit Group’s first report and endorsed its recommendations. The Council also received a paper outlining options to bring the project back into line with its agreed financial parameters and endorsed the Finance Committee’s recommendations concerning those options. The Audit Group’s first report, together with extracts from the minutes of the Finance Committee and Audit Committee meetings on 7 and 8 October 2015, is available online at: http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/cam-only/reporter/2015-16/weekly/6400/NWC-audit-documents.pdf. The Audit Group intends that its findings in respect of the second part of its work will be available to the Council by the end of this year.
The Council has agreed that this topic will be included among the matters for consideration at a Discussion on Tuesday, 3 November 2015. The Vice-Chancellor authorizes all employees of the University and the Colleges to attend the Discussion and to speak on this topic, time permitting, in addition to those already entitled to attend. The arrangements for the Discussion will follow the standard format; further information is available at: https://www.governance.cam.ac.uk/governance/decision-making/discussions/. It will assist in the preparation of the report of the Discussion if speakers could send an electronic copy of their remarks to reporter.editor@admin.cam.ac.uk as early as possible.
The above Notice, dated 1 October 2015 and published in Reporter Special No 1 (p. 3), contained an error. The Chair of the Health and Safety Executive Committee is Professor Duncan Maskell (not Professor Nigel Slater). The entry should therefore read:
Health and Safety Executive Committee: Professor Duncan John Maskell, W
The Board of Scrutiny has elected Dr Matthew Vernon, SE, to hold office as Chair until 30 September 2016, and Dr Lydia Drumright, HH, to hold office as Secretary until 30 September 2016.
It is the duty of the Board of Scrutiny to scrutinize on behalf of the Regent House each year the Annual Report of the Council (including the Annual Report of the General Board to the Council), the accounts of the University, and any Report of the Council proposing allocations from the Chest. In carrying out this duty, the Board has the right to examine the policies of the University and the arrangements made for the implementation of those policies, and to report thereon to the Regent House.
Members of the Board, their addresses for correspondence, and their terms of service are:
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Name |
Postal address |
Email address |
Until 30 Sept |
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Dr Matthew Vernon (Chair) |
University Information Services |
2019 |
|
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Dr Paul Beattie |
Corpus Christi College |
2019 |
|
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Mr Gordon Chesterman |
St Edmund’s College |
2017 |
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|
Dr Lydia Drumright (Secretary) |
Department of Medicine |
2017 |
|
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Dr Mike Franklin |
Hughes Hall |
2017 |
|
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Mr David Goode |
Wolfson College |
2016 |
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Mr Michael Kitson |
St Catharine’s College |
2017 |
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Dr Cristiano Ristuccia |
Trinity Hall |
2017 |
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Mr Dick Taplin |
Downing College |
2016 |
The Board requests that members of the University should contact it via email where possible, preferably using the address administration@scrutiny.cam.ac.uk. Further information may be found at the Board’s website: http://www.scrutiny.cam.ac.uk/.