Strictly Private and Confidential
SCHOOL OF CLINICAL SCIENCES AND COMMUNITY HEALTH
PLANNING AND RESOURCES COMMITTEE
Minutes
Minutes of a meeting held on Monday 23 April 2007 at 12.30pm, The Polish Room, The
Chancellor’s Building, Little France.
Present:
Profs D Weller (in the Chair), R Anderson, A A Calder, G Fowkes, K A A
Fox, C Gregory, R Ibbetson, I Mason, J Mullins, I Power, J Rees, N
Turner, Ms K Aitken, Mrs A Scott and Mrs E Wedgwood.
OPEN BUSINESS
1.
Apologies for absence
2.
Minutes from previous meeting held on 5 February 2007
The minutes of the previous meeting held on 5 February 2007 were approved.
3.
Matters arising from the previous minutes not covered elsewhere on the agenda
Senior School academic staff appointments
It was reported that both the Professor in Paediatrics and the Professor in Genetics and
Epidemiology would be in post prior to the RAE census date.
Bid for Tommy Centre for Maternal and Fetal Health Research status
The Committee were pleased to hear that the bid had been successful and would involve
funds being provided for a new Chair in Maternal and Fetal Health and a donation for a
travelling scholarship.
4.
Finance
The School’s salaries budget was currently forecast to be £245k overspent despite some
savings being made by delaying new appointments/replacement posts. This overspend was
mainly due to the appointment of new senior academic staff or from transferring staff salaries
to the SFC budget at the request of the Head of College. It noted that while many managers
had moderated their requests for bridging funds there was still the issue of requests for
funding of staff on maternity leave whose grant funders did not provide funds for maternity
leave.
The unrestricted budgets were running, overall, slightly under budget. FEC funds due had
been vired to the main relevant G accounts though Research Grants had not yet allocated all
FEC funds. Those affected had been informed and funds would go into the relevant accounts
in mid-May.
5.
Research Liaison Manager
Karen Aitken, Research Liaison Manager summarised her role, which was to provide a link
between the Research Grants section and academic staff/support staff involved in research
grant administration with the aim of lessening the bureaucratic burden on research-active
staff. Karen indicated that she would introduce a regular local drop-in surgery where staff
could discuss any post-award issues with staff from the Research Grants section and
hopefully create a smoother path for researchers at this stage and free up more time for
research.
The Committee highlighted the problems currently being experienced with grants jointly
held/funded with the NHS and delays in getting such projects started, which was noted by
Karen.
6.
Organisational Hierarchy
The School’s current organisational hierarchy was discussed. It was noted that the Scottish
Centre for Regenerative Medicine would be included to take effect from 1 August 2007. The
Committee considered that it was important that the School structure maintained an
environment for centre and non-centre based research activity but recognised the more
clinical areas. It agreed that apart from the one change outlined above, no further
amendments would be made this academic year.
7.
School Plan
The School Plan was not tabled at the meeting as some work was still needed to be
undertaken. Those areas which had not yet sent in a contribution would be reminded to do so.
8.
Website Development Project
The Committee received a copy of the University Website Development Project newsletter.
It agreed that it was important for the University to have an up-to-date easily searched website
with good links to research areas. The Committee recommended that website support be
available for the School/Research Centres/units.
9.
Postgraduate issues
The School Postgraduate Studies Committee (SPGSC) was currently reviewing its remit and
structure (and same of the local postgraduate structures below school level) following its
quinquennial review of postgraduate provision. The full report would be posted to the
Committee webpages if members wished to view. The quinquennial review had highlighted
that some postgraduate students found the School’s structure difficult to understand and that
they more closely identified themselves with a research centre or unit. The SPGSC hoped to
be more proactive in highlighting its remit and importance.
It was noted that the College Postgraduate Studies Committee was shortly completing a
review of the MDs. A workshop would be held on 7 June 2007 at 11am in Lecture Theatre,
QMRI .
CLOSED BUSINESS
10.
Health and Safety
Received information that the AON compliance audit had taken place of the QMRI and a
score of 97% had been given. The Committee thanked the very committed staff at local level
who maintained the high health and safety compliance. The report had highlighted the
importance of business continuity planning (risk management).
11.
Senior School academic staff appointments
Interviews for the Chair in Transplantation Surgery would be held on 4 May.
12.
Date of next meeting
Monday 25 June 2007 (Heads of Divisions/Directors of Research Centres)
12.30pm in the Polish Room (Boardroom), Chancellor’s Building
13.
MSc in Healthcare Informatics/Healthcare Governance
The Committee was asked to approve a proposal that a new MSc in Healthcare
Informatics/Healthcare Governance be introduced in partnership with the Royal College of
Surgeons in Edinburgh. The Committee fully supported such an undertaking and approved the
programme, however, requested that the programme team seek alternative methods of funding
the start-up funds required (mainly for advertising).
It was noted that the College Strategy Group would shortly consider a proposal that the 20%
central university overhead go direct to the Graduate School for new on-line distance learning
courses. If approved, this would help pay for increased advertising, core staff etc.
14.
Overpaid Staff
It was reported that a small number of part-time technical staff had been overpaid since 1
August 2006. This had arisen when technical staff moved from working a 37.5 hour week to
a 35 hour week and while the part-time staff affected had reduced their hours to match their
contracted pro-rata FTE, they had still continued to be paid at their ‘old’ number of hours (for
example, if a staff member had been 0.5 FTE under a 37.5 hour week this would equate to
18.75 hours but from 1 August 2006 under a 35 hour week 0.5 FTE equated to 17.5 hours). It
was recommended that staff overpaid should ‘bank’ the hours overpaid and work additional
hours over the next few months.