Agenda item

            That the verbal update be received.                     

The Senior Manager - Business Change and Support provided a verbal update for the Committee on School Governor Vacancies.  She explained that the request for further information had been made by Councillor Nancy Matthews and Mrs. Rebecca Stark.

                        The Local Education Authority (LEA) had a total of 440 LEA Governor representatives on school governing bodies and over the four year term, a number of vacancies would arise. There were currently eight vacancies that had not been filled for longer than two months and seven were due next term, which was a small number compared to the number of LEA representatives.  The Senior Manager explained the process for appointing LEA Governors and advised that any appointments were signed off by the Cabinet Member for Education and the Chief Officer (Education and Youth) under delegated powers.  Work was undertaken with the Clerk when vacancies occurred and in the short term, she would continue to work with Ward Members and intelligence from the Head Teachers to try and fill the outstanding vacancies.  In the longer term, the Senior Manager had considered whether representatives from the voluntary sector could become governors and she had also considered other alternatives which were still in line with the Council’s policies.  Details of the process undertaken by Denbighshire County Council in appointing LEA Governor representatives were also provided.  Welsh Government was considering a review of the School Governor legislation framework to streamline the regulations and also the current stakeholder model.  The Senior Manager explained that this could result in a smaller number of LEA representatives in future.  She spoke of the training that needed to be undertaken by School Governors and added that it was a credit to the Governing Bodies that the number of vacancies was low.

                        Councillor Chris Bithell welcomed the small number of LEA Governor vacancies and suggested that the role was more onerous than it had been in the past.  He asked Members to advise him if they were aware of possible LEA Governor representatives that they could not accommodate on their Governing Bodies but who would be prepared to travel as this may be a way of filling some of the outstanding vacancies.  The Chairman referred to the difficulty in identifying LEA Governor representatives who were not connected to the school that he was a Governor at.  In response, the Senior Manager spoke of the importance of carrying out a School Governing Bodies needs analysis to identify specific areas that appointments could be considered from. 

                        Mrs. Rebecca Stark thanked the Senior Manager for the update and commented on problems in the past because of the long process of appointing LEA Governor representatives.  The Senior Manager confirmed that the panel which had previously been in place to make the appointments was no longer used.  Mrs. Stark welcomed the progress that had been made for filling vacancies.  She sought further information on the total number of vacancies, not just LEA Governor representatives, on School Governing Bodies, and the Senior Manager confirmed that she would contact schools to obtain the information. 

                        Councillor Paul Cunningham spoke of the reluctance of people to take on the demanding role of being a School Governor and the requirement to undertake mandatory training.  He felt that the role could be onerous but that it was also satisfying. 

                        Mr. David Hytch commented on the inevitability of vacancies during the four year cycle.  In response to further comments from Mr. Hytch and finding suitable representatives for the School Governing Bodies, the Senior Manager advised that the Cabinet Member and Chief Officer could reject representatives under their delegated powers if they felt that the person was unsuitable.  The Chief Officer added that there would need to be strong reasons for rejecting applicants. 

                        Councillor Nancy Matthews spoke of the work that had been undertaken by the Alun School Mold Governors on the skills that they felt were required on the Governing Body.  She felt that the process to identify individuals with those skills had been smooth and suggested that sometimes people just needed to be asked if they were willing to be a School Governing Body representative.  The Senior Manager suggested that consideration was being given to holding an Open Day to raise awareness of the role of School Governing Bodies. 

            RESOLVED:

            That the verbal update be received.