Interim governance audit report recommendations, Oct 2013

Chapman report, appendix 2

This page repeats, for convenience, the complete list of recommendations set out in Appendix 2 of the Chapman Interim governance audit report of October 2013. The list summarizes the further actions required to implement the recommendations of the Hudson governance review of January 2013.

General

• C1  Put in place a plan for prioritising implementation of the first Governance Review’s outstanding recommendations, to help balance the work against other organisational priorities.
• C2  Produce a formal progress report, via the Governance Committee, for each Board meeting.

Board dynamics and role in strategic oversight (recommendations 18 and 37 – 43)

• C3  Consider repeating a team building exercise when the new board of trustees is appointed, perhaps using an external facilitator.
• C4  Trustees to consider drawing up a template for the types of decision that are for the Board, and those which could or should be delegated to the Chief Executive, to aid the process of agreeing an appropriate strategic/operational split.

Development of a strategy (recommendation 15)

• C5  Creation of the WMUK strategy to be considered a priority area of work.
• C6  Draft a description of what the strategic goals of WMUK mean in practice.
• C7 Continue the work, as a matter of priority, to put in place a clear supporting operational plan including budgets, milestones and performance indicators.

Delegations and financial assurance (recommendations 6 – 8, 33 and 44)

• C8  Chief executive to oversee the reconciliation of WMUK’s control accounts each month, so that 
he can be assured that financial controls are in place.
• C9  Board to amend the charity’s financial regulations so that the Board approves the charity’s annual budget, and then delegates management of the budget to the chief executive.
• C10  Chief executive to have oversight of the presentation of quarterly financial management reports to the Board, so that the Board can be assured adequate budget monitoring is in place.

Developing systems to support the governance arrangements (recommendations 20 - 23)

• C11  WMUK to adopt a calendar for the year of key Board decisions.
• C12  WMUK to explore whether it would be appropriate to organise Board agenda items between those for decision and those for information, in order to prioritise time and effort on the most significant items.
• C13  WMUK to use a standard Board template for its reports.

Applying the principles of good governance in a membership charity (recommendations 3, 19, 24 and 25).

• C14 WMUK to consider setting a maximum term of office for their trustees in place of members’ right to continually elect the same trustees.
• C15 WMUK to develop further its proposals to formalise their relationship with their members through methods such as elected Advisory Councils of members, to supplement wider community involvement and consultation