All the Glyn's horses and all the Glyn's men



It's been an interesting term at Bath. We've seen activism get up off the sideline having stayed dormant for years, and take it's time in the limelight after revelations around our University's governance and our Vice-Chancellor's pay.

After the protest on parade around her pay packet, the release of the HEFCE report, our focus should really be turning to governance. The way Uni is run. The people who sit in those decision making positions.

On the 14th of November, I submitted my first FOI, requesting all the membership of all the university committees and council from 2000 to 2017. Exactly 20 working days later, as stated in the terms and conditions of submitting an FOI, I received my reply. And this is what I found.

Just before we begin let me be clear: It doesn't look to me like any standing orders of committees have been breached. Nobody appears to have served a longer term than the rules dictate. Similarly, it's not as if Glynis waltzes around with her henchmen who she handpicks and moulds into yes-men. This is not a conspiracy or a BREAKING NEWS CLICKBAIT EXPOSÉ. But it's interesting to say the least, and the governance is far from perfect.

So to begin, let's look at a law firm in Bath. Thrings is a UK top 100 law firm with offices in Bath, Bristol, Swindon, London and Southampton. As has been picked up on by the media, the current chair of Council: Mr Thomas Sheppard has held a number of senior positions within the law firm. At the latest Council meeting on the day of the protest, a motion of no confidence in the chair of council was put to a vote but fell, with 4 voting for the motion, 13 against the motion and 5 abstentions. In light of all the press attention on the University's governance and those in positions of power in its committees and council, Thrings have clarified their position with regards to Mr Sheppard's roles within the University and the law firm.


In my FOI, records of membership of Council indicated that Thomas Sheppard attended his first University Council meeting in January of 2008 in the 2007/8 academic year. This was as a 'co-opted' member. He served in this capacity until August 2013 of the 2012/13 academic year at which point he appears to have taken a year out - the standing orders dictate that lay members of council can serve up to 6 years (re-election eligible after 3) before having to take a year out until they are eligible for appointment again. After this year out, Thomas Sheppard was appointed as Chair in August 2014. This is the position he has held on Council up until today.

Interestingly, at the time Thomas Sheppard was co-opted onto council in January 2008, a certain Mr JJ Thring was a Pro-Chancellor of the University. In the University's own words in a press released listed online (http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/2010/07/14/thring/), they stated:

"Mr Thring has been a member of the Council of the University since 1992, and was Chairman of Council from 1994 to 2003. He has served as a Pro-Chancellor of the University since 2001 and has served on many of the University’s committees, including the Finance Committee and the Investment Committee. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law in 2003."
This is supported by my FOI information. Glynis herself said:

"Jeremy’s contribution to the life and work of the University has been truly unique. As Pro-Chancellor, past Chair of Council, and a member of innumerable committees, he has been a staunch supporter of the University for the past two decades. His wisdom and willingness to take calculated risks have guided us towards excellence."

So, like I said, whilst no rules have been breached here, it's interesting that Thrings Law firm has had a significant influence in the University of Bath since 1992, especially considering between January 2008 when Thomas Sheppard attended his first Council meeting, and a meeting in March 2010, both Mr Thring and Thomas Sheppard served on Council, the former as chair, and the latter as a lay council member. Though in his role of Chair of Council, Mr Thring would have also chaired nominations committee - a point I will come back to shortly - it's important to note that Thring was not chair of nominations committee or council when Mr Thomas Sheppard was appointed, he was Pro-Chancellor by then and not still serving as Chair of Council.

So who served as Chair of Council between the 2005/6 and 2012/14 academic years in the middle of the Thring sandwich I hear you ask? A guy called Peter Troughton who, as far as the FOI information goes, appears relatively uneventful as a member of council with no similar links like Sheppard has to Thring. He is listed as a Pro-Chancellor from August 2006 until the present day. However, there is this interesting article about him which draws similar parallels to Glynis' parting-ways pay packet: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/wh-smith-cash-for-departing-director-fuels-pay-protests-1585603.html - so do with that what you will.

Oh and also, just as a fun add-on, though unsure of the date he was appointed, Mr Thring was serving as Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset in 2010. Glynis Breakwell was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset in 2010. Peter Wyman the University Treasurer got appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant of Somerset in 2014... Yeah, I didn't know Somerset had or needed Lieutenants either, let alone Deputy Lieutenants.

Right so Nominations committee. Nominations committee is the committee that decides who gets appointed or 'co-opted' to Council. The current make up of nominations committee is as follows:
Mr T SheppardChair, Chair of Councilex-officio
Professor Dame Glynis BreakwellPresident and Vice-Chancellorex-officio
Dr A SaloChair of Academic Assemblyex-officio
Professor D GalbreathSenior Member of Academic Staff, appointed by Chair2020
Mr P TroughtonLay Member of Council, elected by Council2018
Mr R WhorrodLay Member of Council, elected by Council2020
Mrs C Mealing-JonesLay Member of Council, elected by Council2019
Dr S WhartonStaff Member of Council, elected by Council2020
Bearing in mind this committee decides who sits on Council, 4 lay members of council already sit on this committee, as does Mr Sheppard in his role as chair and obviously the VC. As Chair of Academic Assembly, Dr A Salo also automatically sits on Council. Professor D Galbreath is the only one in this list who doesn't currently sit on Council, though as he is a Dean, he is allowed to attend meetings but has no say in decisions. This structure, though perfectly in line with standing orders and rules, appears to enable a fairly insular process by which people who get appointed by nominations committee to sit on Council can then be elected by Council to sit on nominations committee to choose those who get appointed to Council... you catch my drift?

I briefly mentioned Peter Wyman, the University Treasurer earlier. Let's chat about him. He first served on University Council as a 'co-opted' member in October 2003, with his last appearance in April 2006. He also appears to have been co-opted onto Finance Committee as early as 2004/5, with a series of ad-hoc additions to the membership documents I received in the FOI:


 Membership 2006/7
 Membership 2007/8
 Membership 2008/9


This happens before he serves again as a lay member of Council in September 2008, before being appointed as University Treasurer on the 1st of January 2011 to serve a term of 3 years, yet must have been eligible for re-appointment as he remains in that position today. Again, that re-appointment would have been decided by nominations committee again. 

Wyman has also been highlighted by the media in the past. He worked at PWC for 40 years until 2010, and in 2015 took a job as Chair of the Care Quality Commission who regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. However PWC also happen to be the internal auditor of the CQC. Newspaper articles questioned conflict of interests, you can read them here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/care-quality-commission-pwc-veteran-peter-wyman-s-new-role-at-regulator-questioned-a6772036.html

I could go on cherry picking individuals who have served on Council or a University Committee over the past 17 years (such as Mr Stanion, ex-chairman of Vinci construction company who won the bids to do Chancellor's Building, 10West and Polden Corner) but we would be here for hours. Once again, it doesn't appear that any of the information released to me in the FOI breach any kind of rules or standing orders. But what it does highlight is that the senior management, and people of influence who sit on Council all seem to move in the same sorts of circles, and as the governance structures currently stand, there's nothing stopping the committees from being filled with the same sort of people from the same sorts of businesses whose personal relationships and agendas could endanger the objective and effective running of our University.

I'm hyped for the independent review being carried out by Halpin Partnership (http://halpinpartnership.com/). They are a new consultancy who only began in 2017. One of their team was a previous NUS president, and many of the 'Halpin fellows' appear to have links to Exeter University which is interesting. But my hope is that Halpin Partnership will be able to truly assess the governance structures of our University, and that this will create a wave of change across the sector, aided by the introduction of the new Office for Students in 2018, which will change the way that Higher Education Institutions are run for the better.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Baaer Meinhof and Baby Killers...

I'm running for SU President

'Students' VS 'Residents' - Bath is full to the brim