Shrewsbury Colleges Group

Minutes of the Search Governance Committee - 8 March 2023 HTML

Group Minutes of Finance & Business Operations Committee
Location HELD BY REMOTE ACCESS THROUGH MICROSOFT TEAMS
Date 8th March 23
Time 5.52 pm
In Attendance In attendance by electronic device and contributing towards the meeting quorum, in accordance with Instrument 12. (Members may count towards the quorum if they are able to be present by electronic or digital communication (including attendance by video conferencing or telephone conferencing).

B. Greenaway, G. Mills and J. Staniforth.

In attendance:
T. Cottee – Clerk to the Board
Apologies R. Wilson.

01/23. Appointment of Chair of Committee for the Meeting 

 In the absence of the Committee Chair, it was 

Resolved:  That G. Mills be appointed Chair of the Committee for the meeting.

G. Mills in the Chair. 

02/23. Declarations of Interest

None.

03/23. Minutes of the Meeting Held 05 October 2022 and Special Meeting Held 11 January 2023 (Appendices – Agenda Item 3) (previously circulated)

Resolved: That the Minutes of the Meeting held on held on 05 October 2022  and Special Meeting held on 11 January 2023, be approved as a true record.

04/23. Board Vacancies and Succession Planning (Confidential Appendices – Agenda Item 4)

There was currently one Independent Governor Vacancy on the Board with a further Governor and one Parent Governor having given notice that they would be leaving the Board during the summer term, due to changes in their professional circumstances.  In accordance with the Board’s search procedures, the Clerk had contacted the Board’s Wait List candidates to seek expressions of interest to the current and upcoming vacancies.  One candidate was available for immediate interview.  The candidate had passed Due Diligence Checks and had met informally with the P/CEO.  

Following the informal meeting, the candidate had been recommended for formal interview.

The Committee interviewed formally the shortlisted candidate, based on an assessment of a submitted CV and application form/skills audit (previously circulated).

Having considered the skills and experience of the candidate, which included working in an education environment, the future skills requirements of the Board and to maintain quality governance, the Committee made the following recommendation – 

Resolved:  It was recommended to Board that J. Hoyland be appointed as a Governor for a Term of Four Years and be appointed to the Search & Governance Committee and based on the candidate’s preference, either the Audit Committee or the Finance & Business Operations with effect from 27 March 2023.

Action:  Item to Board 

05/23. Board Vacancies and Succession Planning (Appendix – Agenda Item 6)

    • The Board had confirmed the appointments to the Student Governor (H.E.) vacancy and the Academic Staff Governor vacancies.  
    • The Committee reviewed Governor attendance.  One Appointed Governor had missed two Corporation meetings.  However, the governor had attended and engaged in two committee meetings, had submitted legitimate apologies for meetings missed, and had committed to attend the next Board meeting.  
    • The applicant interviewed by the Committee at its recent special meeting had not accepted the offer of a co-opted Quality Committee position.  The withdrawal was not related to the candidate’s experience of interview or the application process itself.  
    • 1 Independent and 1 Parent Governor had indicated their intention to resign from the Board; both for reasons not connected with the role.  The Committee agreed that recruitment to these vacancies from the candidates on the Wait List should target the skill sets of teaching, safeguarding and E&D skills sets.

06/23. Governor Development (Appendix – Agenda Item 7)

The Committee considered the latest update (previously circulated) on – 

      1. Learning Walk Programme 2022 – 2023
        Two Learning Walks had been undertaken this year and the first Walk this Term was on 09 March at the Welsh Bridge Campus on Geography, Geology, Economics & Computing academic provision. 
      2. Mandatory Development Modules
        The target was 100% completion of mandatory development modules by governors and co-opted committee members.  The percentage was currently depressed due to the number of newly appointed governors currently on the Induction Programme.  It was expected that 100% compliance will be achieved by the next meeting.
      3. Governor Development Plan 2022 – 2023
        The Committee received an update on the various strands of the governor development programme including:
        • Online Governance Development Programme (GDP) Update
        • Sixth Form Colleges’ Association’s (SFCA) Webinar Programme
        • Internal development
        • Chairs’ development
        • Governor Training Records

07/23. Board Quality Improvement Plan 2022 – 2023 – Progress (Appendix – Agenda Item 8)

The Committee reviewed progress against the 2022 – 2023 Board Quality Improvement Plan (previously circulated).  Actions were on track to be achieved by the target dates. 

08/23. Risk

It agreed that there had been sufficient discussion of the other risk issues at the meeting, particularly, the need to focus search activities going forward.

The meeting concluded at 6.55 p.m.