Former University Head of Security secures consultancy role with Hes East contractor
ALLY CARMICHAEL
A Former Senior University Employee whose position was dissolved during the recent changes to the campus portering service has been employed on a consultancy basis for a firm contracted by the University on the Heslington East Expansion project.
Former Head of Security Services Ken Batten, who was involved in awarding the Hes East contract to security firm KABA, stepped into the advisory role almost immediately after leaving the University. The terms of Batten’s contract termination are unknown, though they are thought to include benefits relative to his employment at the University.
“This was a formal tender process conducted under EU procurement legislation. Ken Batten, as Head of Security at the time, was involved in drawing up the specification for the contract. He was not on the panel which considered the tenders and awarded the contract,” stated University Press Officer David Garner.
When contacted by Nouse, KABA, who are fitting all the locks and access doors on the expansion, were unable to provide a response. Batten was unavailable for comment.
Batten’s former role was dissolved after the Portering Services moved under the control of Campus Services head Sue Johnston as part of the recent restructuring of the service.
Nouse understands that the cuts originally favoured by the University, and supported by Batten, mandated the complete termination of both the Derwent and Vanbrugh lodges this October.
The revised plan, which was subsequently adopted and provides for a day portering service in Vanbrugh and Derwent, and the amalgamation of the service under the Campus Services umbrella removed the need for Batten’s former position, which oversaw the Portering and Security teams. The latter is currently being overseen by Bailey Oliver.
It is understood that the termination of Batten’s contract provided a uncertain amount of funding that assisted in the continuation of a 12-hour service at the Derwent and Vanbrugh lodges.
Batten was regarded by many of the campus porters as a main proponent of the continued pressure to shrink the portering service by the University. After telling YUSU Senate that the shutting down of three of the seven college porters’ lodges for an extended period in 2007 was “impossible to anticipate”, one porter claimed that Batten was “an out-and-out liar.”
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