General Council correspondence with the University Court on People and Money

The Education (Scotland) Act 1858, which established the General Council, gave it the right to make representations to the University Court on matters concerning the prosperity and wellbeing of the university.

This right should only be exercised formally in exceptional circumstances. It should be exercised in a constructive manner, consistent with the non-executive governance role of the General Council and respectful of the complementary responsibilities of Court, Senate and the University’s senior Executive staff.

The widely reported and protracted difficulties associated with the implementation of Phase 3 of the People and Money system resulted in Court commissioning an independent report from PA Consulting. This was published in December 2023. Given the circumstances and challenges it described and concerns raised by General Council members, the Business Committee held an additional meeting in late January when it decided that, in such exceptional circumstances, it would be appropriate to write formally to Court.

The main concern of the Business Committee in making its submission was to be constructive through helping to ensure that the lessons learned from this episode would be heeded, both in relation to the work identified in the PA Consulting Report that had still to be done on People and Money, and the implications for other ongoing or imminent major change management projects.

To help General Council members who remain concerned by the difficulties associated with People and Money, we are making available on our website the relevant exchanges between the Business Committee and Court, through its Chair, the Senior Lay Member, Janet Legrand.

We believe the response of Court and the University Leadership Team to the Business Committee demonstrates their determination to deal with the continuing challenges of People and Money so that it will deliver the benefits expected from it, and to learn the lessons from this experience when dealing with other change management projects. We shall continue to monitor progress closely.

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