Revealed: the Vice Chancellor’s expenses Dr Hood spending at double rate of predecessor
Dr Hood's spending
Vice-Chancellor Dr John Hood has been spending almost twice as much money on expenses as his predecessor in the post, Sir Colin Lucas. Figures obtained by The Oxford Student under the Freedom of Information Act show the Vice-Chancellor spent £12,427 on official expenses in the first six months of his tenure up to the request of 5th April 2005. This was broken down into £9,142 spent on official hospitality, £1,698 on hotels and £1,586 travelling at the University’s expense.
Sir Colin Lucas, in his final three years as Vice- Chancellor, charged an average of £14,757 per annum to the University. The figures supplied by the University include travel and subsistence costs incurred by the postholder and reimbursed by the University and the costs of official entertainment by the VC at the Vice-Chancellor’s residence.
An Oxford spokeswoman said: “The profile of the expenditure by John Hood on expenses and entertaining during his first months as Vice-Chancellor is very similar to that of Colin Lucas, until his final year of office. “It is normal that, when newly appointed, a person holding a post such as this would host a number of functions that assist them in meeting a large number of members of the institution and key external contacts.
“Dr Hood has, for example, instituted breakfast meetings with groups of students and receptions for Contract Research Staff.”
19th May 2005