Agenda item

Report of the Town Clerk.

The Chairman introduced a report of the Town Clerk on the Board’s terms of reference, noting that each grand committee had the opportunity to review its terms of reference annually to ensure they remained fit for purpose. The following points were made.

·         The Chairman noted the decision of the Court of Common Council when establishing the Education Board to make it necessary for all appointments of academy governors to be referred to the Court for approval. She contrasted this approach with the fact that the Community and Children’s Services Committee had, before the Education Board was established, the power to appoint academy governors without referring to the Court of Common Council. The Director of Community and Children’s Services agreed that in this context a case could be made for the Education Board to be granted the power to appoint academy governors, without the need to refer to the Court.

·         The Deputy Chairman noted that it was also important that the City Corporation utilise a skills-based selection approach for all appointments made to Boards of school governors.

·         A member commented that it would be useful for a paper on the various boards and bodies that the City Corporation appointed governors to be submitted to the Board for information. The Chairman agreed, and remarked that this was perhaps a matter for the upcoming review of outside bodies.

·         The Deputy Chairman queried whether co-opted members of the Board should be granted a vote in Board matters. The Town Clerk noted that co-opted members had been explicitly granted the vote when the Board was established.

·         The Town Clerk noted the proposed change to the quorum for the appointment of external members: this would change from the current 5 Common Council members plus 1 co-opted member, to 5 Common Council members only. This would ensure that the Board had the ability to appoint external members in the event all four external member appointments on the Board were vacant.

·         In response to comments from Members, the Town Clerk agreed to canvass Board members outside of the meeting to establish what frequency and timing of meetings was acceptable for the majority of the Board.

RESOLVED, that

·         That the process for appointing co-opted members no longer require a co-opted member to be present for the meeting to be quorate. Therefore the quorum for the appointment of co-opted members be amended from the current 5 Common Council members plus 1 co-opted member, to 5 Common Council members only;

·         That the approval of the Court of Common Council no longer be required for appointment of academy governors, and this be a matter for the Education Board alone, in line with previous practice for academy governor appointments by the Community and Children’s Services Committee;

·         Any further changes to the Board’s terms of reference be delegated to the Town Clerk in consultation with the Chairman and Deputy Chairman.