This Notice is in reply to the Board of Scrutiny's Ninth Report (Reporter, 2003-04, p. 1082) and to the Discussion of the Report held on 26 October 2004 (Reporter, 2004-05, p. 152). The Council published an interim Notice on 11 August 2004 in the same issue of the Reporter as the Report (Reporter, 2003-04, p. 1053). In this Notice the Council reply in particular to comments made in the Discussion.
1. Since the August Notice was published, the Regent House has approved provision for home and EU undergraduate fees from 2006 (Grace 1 of 1 December 2004).
2. The Board of Scrutiny referred to the University's budget deficit and noted that serious attempts were being made to contain it. The Council have published a Notice about steps which are being taken significantly to improve the University's financial situation (Reporter, 2004-05, p. 278).
3. Reference was made in the Discussion to the introduction of a total returns policy for the Amalgamated Fund. The Council on the recommendation of the Finance Committee have recently reported about this matter (Reporter, 2004-05, p. 282).
4. The Council agree with the Board of Scrutiny's suggestion that the Statutes and Ordinances should be openly accessible on the Web. They also agree with the Board's suggestion that Statute K, 9 be amended to allow delegation to a person as well as to a committee, and will report further on this and some other aspects of Statute K.
5. Professor G. R. Evans referred to the Student Information System, CamSIS. By early November 2004 CamSIS had already been used to process over 250 applications from prospective graduate students using the online application form, as well as over 2,000 applications received on paper. The Board of Graduate Studies are now using CamSIS to process all applications and the Cambridge Admissions Office is also using CamSIS to exchange undergraduate information with UCAS. Further good progress is anticipated and student records functionality will be included from the start of the academical year 2005-06.
6. The Estate Plan is being revised and, as stated in the Notice published on 11 August 2004, publication of the final plan is intended. A major long-term planning process which will include consideration of future student numbers is under way.
7. References were made to the numbers of administrative staff. The Council have previously made plain their assessment that the administration of the University has been under-resourced bearing in mind the needs of a modern university (Reporter, 2000-01, pp. 202, 562), and especially the need to improve services to Schools, Faculties, and Departments under a regime of increasing external regulation. Because the increase started from such a small base, the percentage increase will seem to be high. The Registrary's Annual Report to the Council and the Council's periodic reviews of Divisions in the Unified Administrative Service enable the Council to monitor performance. With respect to the current savings exercise, the Unified Administrative Service is under the same constraints as other institutions in the University and has been required to cut its expenditure during the current year by 1 per cent.
8. The Council have referred the remarks made by Mr C. P. Larkum concerning the Board of Scrutiny to the Board, and have invited them to respond to the remarks with their observations.
9. The Council have summarized recent changes to their own internal procedures in their Annual Report for 2003-04 (Reporter, 2004-05, p. 307, paragraph 4).