Information about Spin Out companies

Dear Sir or Madam,

Can you please pass the following request to the person responsible
for handling such enquiries?

I would like information on the following points:

1. How many spin-out companies has the University formed in the
past five years and how much did it cost the University to create
each company?

2. Could you provide me with a breakdown of costs incurred by the
University for each spin-out company formed within the past five
years? This breakdown should include: - legal costs involved in the
formation of each company; - salary costs for any University
employees responsible for the formation of each spin-out; and - any
other overheads involved, i.e. bonuses for said staff, consultancy
costs, accommodation and travel costs.

3. Could you also provide amounts of all income earned from
University spin-out companies within the same five-year period,
excluding equity/shares held by the University in those companies?

4. If you can neither provide the costs nor the quantifiable
amounts of actual income can you provide me with the justification
for such expenditure from the public purse?

5. How many spin-out companies have registered actual sales and how
many of these companies are trading at a profit? Could you please
provide details of profit and loss accounts for these companies? If
none of these spin-out companies have made a profit, can you
provide me with justification for continuing to spend public funds
in this area?

6. What is the ratio of costs incurred by the University to income
earned by each spin-out company formed? Does this represent good
use of public funds?

7. Have the University's Vice Chancellor, Pro Vice Chancellor
responsible for financial matters, Secretary of Court, Director of
Finance or any of the University's governing bodies ever called for
an investigation/review regarding the cost to the University of
creating spin-out companies? If so, could you please provide me
with the relevant details/reports?

8. What level of legal/business qualifications do the people
responsible for creating spin-out companies possess? If they do not
possess such qualifications, is the University going to take any
action against the Director of Human Resources for appointing these
people, bearing in mind that it is public funds being used here?

9. Are the University's managers with financial control for
spin-out companies required to keep a record of all expenditure? If
they are, are they required to report this to the Secretary of
Court or Director of Finance? If so, could you please provide me
with the relevant details/reports?

Yours faithfully,

Paul Philips

Dear LAMB Ian,

Many thanks for the extremely helpful reply. I only wish your
colleagues in other Scottish institutions were as transparent in
their responses.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Philips