Information for Councillors in Making a Recommendation to a

Local Authority Governor Post

Introduction

This document sets out information for Councillors to consider in recommending an individual to the post of a Local Authority (LA) Governor. This applies to appointing a LA Governor to all maintained schools and academies. Information of the actual appointment process is also available on the Governor Support Team (GST) web site to support this document.

Please note:

  • There are two current constitution regulations that apply to this process, depending on whether the Governing Body (GB) has re/constituted before or on/after 01.09.2012. Both regulations are accommodated in the following information.
  • That the post has various titles - Local Education Authority Governor or Authority Governors in the older (2003 & 2007) regulations and Local Authority (LA) Governor for the newer (2012) regulations. For the purposes of consistency in this document the term LA Governor will be used for the post irrespective of when the GB was re/constituted.

Initial Steps

As an LA Governor post-holder reaches the end of their term of office or resigns, the process to recruit to this position will commence by the GB (usually the Clerk) informing the GST of the situation.

The Clerk will provide information at that stage on:

  • The skills required by the GB (identified through a skills audit).
  • If applicable whether the incumbent requests to continue in the post, and if so, their skills and experience to support this application.
  • Any nominations from the school of interested people and their skills and experience to support the nomination.

Making a Recommendation

An invitation to take part in the process will be sent to the Councillor whose electoral division contains the school, and for secondary schools, to any Councillors whose division contains a catchment primary school. As a councillor meeting these criteria, you will be invited to recommend a post holder for the vacancy (or vacancies) by completing and returning the GST14 form to GST, which will be emailed to you. To comply with the timescales for the Area Committee meetings, a speedy response would be much appreciated and very helpful.

Where invitations are issued to more than one councillor, it is recommended that you consult with your colleagues (whose names will be give in the invitation letter). LA Governors cannot be appointed unless recommended by a councillor.

In making your recommendation or nomination to fill the vacant post, it is useful to consider the following points:

  • A governor need not be a member of the appointing body (i.e. need not be a County Councillor).
  • It is an advantage to recommend nominees who know well particular parts of the area served by the school. This is very important in the more sparsely populated localities where schools may serve a large geographical area.
  • Governors are required to attend meetings regularly and are encouraged to develop strong links with a school so that they will then be able to serve its interests effectively.
  • The current profile of the GB to the School – GST will include a list of current Governors, identifying their status and re-election dates.
  • Councillors areencouragedto visit the schools in their electoral division.Schools appreciate if they are contacted in advance to agree a suitable timing and enable appropriate arrangements to be made. Please note that schools are required to have proof of current enhanced Disclosure Barring Service (DBS) check for anyone (including councillors) who may have regular and/or unsupervisedcontact with children and young people.

Academies

Academies can choose to have an LA Governor. If an academy does have an LA Governor the process for appointment and reappointment is the same as previously described.

However, an academy can choose whether or not to keep the LA informed of the current profile of the governing body. Where these details are available GST will include the details identifying their status and re-election dates.

Special Schools

As the catchment area of special schools may extend over more than one committee boundary in Cumbria, special schools are exempt from the above process. Special schools would still need to complete a skills audit to identify the skills needed by the GB (and their proposed candidate for the post, if applicable); however, this would be sent to the Director of Children’s Services, for her approval, rather than to the Local Committee.

Further Details about the Operational Process:

  • If a Councillor is not able to personally recommend (because the person is not known to you) but wants to support the school’s recommendation for the post (on the basis the school knows the individual being put forward and has assessed their suitability), then this can be accommodated - GST will indicate this is the situation on the schedule sent to the Local Committee.
  • If the Committee does not receive a Councillor’s recommendation after two consecutive Local Committee meetings, then GST will invite the GB’s nomination to be put forward for consideration.
  • Once the Committee has agreed an appointment, the LA will write to inform the appointee and the school’s Clerk to the GB.
  • A process map summarising the situation is available on the GST web site.
  • A list of Councillors’ electoral divisionfor Primary and Secondary schools catchment areas (updated after the May 2013 County Council elections) is also available from the GST web site.

Karen Little

Governor Support Manager

1 September 2013

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