Data intelligence

In 2019/20, Aberystwyth University incorrectly reported a number of items of income and expenditure as being separately disclosed material items from the Audited Financial Statement of comprehensive income and expenditure in the Finance record Table 10. The intention had been to draw user’s attention to line items where there had been a significant movement from previous years reported results. However, the items disclosed were not material items that required separate disclosure in the audited financial statements and all the return in Finance record Table 10 should have been nil other than staff costs, which is detailed below.

In 2018/19 and 2019/20, Aberystwyth University included Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension provision movement within Staff Costs in Table 1 without a separate Exceptional item disclosure under table 10 - Separately disclosed material items. The values under table 10, staff costs, should be £18,542k for 2018/19 and (£10,305k) for 2019/20.

In 2018/19 and 2019/20, Bangor University included Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension provision movement within Staff Costs in Table 1 without a separate Exceptional item disclosure under table 10 - Separately disclosed material items. The values under table 10, staff costs, should be £18,158k for 2018/19 and £(11,384k) for 2019/20.

For 2018/19 and 2019/20 Cardiff University omitted to separately disclose material items from the audited financial statement of comprehensive income and expenditure. The separately disclosable items are included within the operating expenditure. The values under table 10, staff costs, should be £92,908k for 2018/19 and £(55,214k) for 2019/20.

In 2018/19 and 2019/20 Glyndŵr University have reported staff costs within separately disclosed material items that represent total Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) contributions. These values are: £2,706k for 2018/19 and £3,237k for 2019/20. Included within these costs are exceptional past service costs representing Guaranteed Minimum Pension and McCloud contributions account for of £625k in 2018/19 and £173k in 2019/20 of staff cost values. This approach aligns with the University Group Financial Statements methodology to clearly show the impact of LGPS as part of the overall University Group Financial Statements and was agreed with the provider’s external auditors.

In 2016/17, Cardiff Metropolitan University omitted severance payment data from Table 13 of the Finance record.  The correct figures are as follows:

3 Aggregate of compensation paid for loss of office to staff earning in excess of £100,000 per annum (Excludes head of provider)
3a Loss of office at the provider

• i Total amount of compensation paid across the whole provider - £778k
• ii Number of people to whom this was payable - 3

In 2014/15 and 2015/16, The Brit College incorrectly reported all their students as male. In both academic years, a mix of sexes were enrolled.

The University of Northampton opened a new campus in 2018/19, replacing two former campuses. Due to this there are notable changes in the provider's Estates Management Record data items relating to buildings and spaces, energy, emissions and waste, and finances relating to energy costs, water and sewerage costs and insurance premiums.

The University of Southampton has miscoded SOC DLHE codes for 44 records and TYPEQUAL for 17 records. This particularly has an impact on the Professional/Non-Professional marker and as a result, any calculations on positive/negative destinations.

In 2022/23, Queen Mary University of London reported increases in ‘Estimated current turnover of all active firms (£000s)’, ‘Estimated external investment received (£000s)’, and ‘Estimated current employment of all active firms (FTE)’ in student start-ups and social enterprises. These increases are attributed to improvements made by the provider in their data recording process for startups and social enterprises over the past year. These enhancements have revealed errors in tracking and reporting this data in the past.

Similarly, London School of Economics and Political Science reported increases in ‘Estimated current turnover of all active firms (£000s)’ and ‘Estimated external investment received (£000s)’ in student start-ups and social enterprises in their 2022/23 return, compared to the previous year. In 2022/23 an in-house survey was developed for reporting the submitted numbers, whereas the data for 2021/22 relied on third-party monitoring.

2a) Public lectures – Academic staff time
In 2010/11 Aston University reported the British Academy of Management (BAM) Conference which was hosted by Aston University, accounting for 60 days’ academic staff time. This conference did not take place in 2011/12.

2c) Exhibitions (galleries, museums etc.) – Attendees
The British Science Festival was held at Aston University in September 2010 and the attendee data relating to this event was reported in the 2010/11 return. This event took place at an alternative venue in 2011, hence the same data was not reported in the 2011/12 return.

In 2015/16, The University of Greenwich failed to return any data for 2015/16 in Table 5, the 2014/15 restated figures are included.

Coventry University reported 11,875,132 attendances at free public lectures in 2017/18, a result of growing its media coverage and the impact of high-profile visits.

In 2018/19 De Montfort University did not record the number of individual attendees at chargeable public lectures.

In 2016/17, The University of Strathclyde incorrectly reported their source of basic salary data, due to a technical issue. All staff contracts were reported to be wholly general financed by the higher education provider, with the proportion of basic salary charged against general income being reported as 100. This affects approximately 1,600 staff who were fully or partially externally funded.

The values for fields of Space Measurement reported by University of South Wales saw genuine changes in them due to addition of a site for commercial activity and redesignation of previous site research to commercial.

In 2016/17, University of Northampton mis-reported their Spin-offs with some HEP ownership data.  Corrected values are set out below.

2016/17 Spin-offs with some HEP ownership, estimated external investment received (£000s) returned as 900,000, the correct value should read as 900.
2015/16 restated Spin-offs with some HEP ownership, estimated external investment received (£000s) returned as 950,000, the correct value should read as 950.

In 2021/22, Loughborough University incorrectly classified one spin-off as a spin-off with HEP ownership, when it should have been categorized as a former spin-off with no HEP ownership. The company was correctly categorized in the current year, 2022/23. This resulted in a decrease in ‘Estimated external investment received (£000s)’ in spin-offs with some HEP ownership this year compared to the previous one, from £31,700 to £5,233 (£000s), and a corresponding increase in formal spin-offs not HEP owned.

In 2021/22, SRUC inaccurately reported figures for ‘Estimated current turnover of all active firms (£000s)’ and ‘Estimated external investment received (£000s)’ in spin-offs with some HEP ownership in the incorrect units, £5,000 and £160,000, respectively. The correct figures are (£000s) £5 and £160.

Relevant staff FTEs which should attribute and align against student FTEs for cost centre 129 (Economics & Econometrics), are allocated within those FTE figures provided in cost centre 133 (Business & Management Studies) for Cardiff University.

Relevant staff FTEs which should attribute and align against student FTEs for cost centre 135 (Education), are allocated within those FTE figures provided in cost centres 131 (Social work and Social Policy) and 132 (Sociology) for Cardiff University.

In 2022/23, there is a difference in staff costs between Table 1 and Table 12 for the University of Edinburgh. This is due to the rounding in the financial statements.

In 2022/23, there is a difference in staff costs between Table 1 and Table 12 for the University of Strathclyde. This is due to Employer Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) contributions not being recorded in Table 12.

For the academic years 2016/17 – 2021/22 some inconsistencies are apparent among non-English HE providers in the total staff costs displayed in Table 12 of the open data when comparing against staff costs reported in Table 1. These discrepancies relate to differences in the way that HE providers have reported staff costs in both tables – in some cases excluding non-academic staff costs, and in some cases including pension adjusted costs. Staff costs in Table 1 are validated against providers’ published accounts.

In 2015/16, Edinburgh Napier University misreported a number of items within Table 8 of the Finance record specifically relating to staff costs expenditure and other operating expenses. The correct figures are as follows:

• 1at Total academic departments: Total expenditure £48,535k
• 2 Total academic services: Total expenditure £20,926k

• 3 Administration and central services
  
  • 3a Central administration and services: Total expenditure £8,851k
  • 3biii Other general expenditure: Total expenditure £758k

The effect on academic departments was spread generally on a pro rata basis.