Meeting documents

To receive oral evidence from Clive Parker – Democratic Services Manager as part of the School Governance Select Committee Inquiry.

Contributors

Clive Parker – Democratic Services Manager

Andrew Walker – Chairman of the Buckinghamshire Association of School Governors

Mr Parker provided the following evidence:

·       Democratic Services use a database system called ‘modern.gov’.

·       Modern.gov enables agendas to be created into a pack, which means reports and appendices are kept together. Modern.gov also stores documents electronically which means they are easy to retrieve should they be needed at a future date

·       Modern.gov has a ‘subscribe to updates’ facility. Updates can be searched by Committee or subject

·       If governor clerks are based in County Hall it may be possible for them to use modern.gov

·       There are other web based systems which the governor clerks could use

·       Democratic Services work strictly to Acts of Parliament and Regulations in relation to the publication of agendas, minutes and decisions etc. Agendas for example are published 5 clear working days prior to the date of the meeting

·       There are provisions for urgent decisions, however these again are strictly regulated

·       Within the governing body regulations there is a requirement that papers should be sent at least 7 days prior to the meeting date.

·       Modern.gov is an expensive system and it may not be a priority for governing bodies

Members had a discussion and made the following comments:

·       Mr Walker said that most governors’ clerks were good at influencing and were invaluable. He advised that as Chairman of governors he had also required the assistance of Legal and Democratic Services who provided a really good service.

·       The Governors website is very useful and has model agendas for meetings

·       It cost money to access software systems. Governing bodies should be asked if they are happy with their current process and enquires about the costs for governing bodies to access modern.gov should be made.

·       There is a cloud based system for retaining governing body records called GSET and the licence cost approximately £250 a year

·       There is also a system called openhive which Aylesbury High School have

·       It would be good if all schools used the same systems

·       There is not the facility to file the self-evaluation framework document electronically and this is done paper based

·       Modern.gov is a very good system. Could resources be pulled together so that all governing bodies use one system

·       There needs to be some market testing of governing bodies to see if there is appetite for modern.gov

·       The easier things are made for governors and governing bodies the better.

·       If you ask members of the public how they think they are able to obtain copies of governing body minutes they would probably think they had to go to the school office to request a copy.

·       There may be a confidentiality issue in future as governing bodies responsibilities for pupils are increasing

·       There is also an issue regarding email accounts. If governors use their home email account these can be audited. There needs to be clear understanding from governors about what business should be transacted by email. Should governors have email accounts for governor business?

Action: Clive Parker to speak to other colleagues to enquire what other systems are being used and contact Nicola Cook to ascertain if there would be appetite from governing bodies.