Publication of Governors’ Details and the Register of Interests
The statutory guidance on the constitution of governing bodies of maintained schools was updated on 14 August 2015 and came into effect on 1 September 2015. It is a statutory requirement that governors’ details and the register of interests are published on the school’s website. The National Governors Association is in the process of producing guidance on this, and it is expected that it will be available in the guidance centre by next week. Governors hold an important public office and their identity should be known to their school and wider communities. In the interests of transparency, a governing body should publish on its website up to date details of its governance arrangements in a readily accessible form (readily accessible means that the information should be on a webpage without the need to download or open a separate document). The following questions summarise the key information and changes: Whose interests must be published? The DfE’s statutory guidance for maintained schools says all registered interests of governors and associate members must be published on the school website, including personal relationships. It is recommended governing bodies update their code of conduct to make it clear that this information will be published. For academies, although it states business and pecuniary interests of local governors as well as members and trustees should be published, it does not say that this is the case for any personal interests. What information about the governing body should be published? The structure and remit of the governing body and any committees including the full name of the chair of each For each governor who has served at any point over the last 12 months Their full name, date of appointment, term of office, date they stepped down (where applicable), who appointed them Relevant business and pecuniary interests including governance roles in other establishments and personal relationships Their attendance at governing body and committee meetings All of the above applies to associate members including any voting rights on any committees The governing body’s code of conduct must make it clear the above information will be published on the website and any governor/associate member who does not provide information may be in breach of the code of conduct and this could result in bringing the governing body into disrepute. In this case the governing body could consider suspending the governor/associate member Which interests must be recorded? Business and pecuniary interests Any other educational establishments where they are a member Personal relationships with staff members in the school which includes spouses, partners and relatives Also included in the guidance is greater flexibility of terms of office for governors. Although the maximum term of office remains four years, governing bodies can now specify in the instrument of government that the term of office for an individual governor within a particular category may be between one and four years as determined by the appointing body at the time of appointment.