The Chartered Governance Institute has welcomed today’s release by the Education & Skills Funding Agency of its ‘Academies financial handbook 2020’, in which the role of the clerk is recognised for the important advisory support that it brings to academy trusts.

Organisations are still failing to provide enough support to staff in terms of their mental health according to a poll out today from The Chartered Governance Institute and governance recruitment specialist The Core Partnership. Fewer than half (45%) of respondents to the poll believe that their organisation does enough to support staff’s mental health, with over a quarter (26%) stating that their organisation does not do enough. A similar poll a year ago found parallel results: 49% of respondents believed that their organisation did enough to support employees’ mental well-being and 31% believed that their organisation did not.

Some 78% of organisations believe that sustainable values are very important to their community according to a poll out today from The Chartered Governance Institute and governance recruitment specialist The Core Partnership. An additional 22% consider that sustainability is slightly important and no organisations feel that it is unimportant.

According to a poll out today from The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland and governance recruitment specialist The Core Partnership, companies and other organisations are taking a mixed approach to salary sacrifice during the Coronavirus pandemic. Some 41% of executive directors have taken a voluntary reduction in base salary (50% have not), 31% of non-executive directors have taken a reduction (56% have not) and 31% of senior managers on the management board have taken a reduction while 60% have not. There is less disparity in terms of the amount of the reduction with the majority of people across all three groups taking a 20% cut.

Wendy Stanger, Director of Governance at East Coast College has been awarded an accolade for good governance by The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland, organiser of the prestigious CGIUKI Awards 2019. Wendy won the coveted Governance Professional of the Year award at a glittering awards celebration at the Park Lane Hilton in London last night.

The Red Sea Project which is being developed on the Saudi Arabian Red Sea coast by The Red Sea Development Company took the award for ‘ESG Initiative of the Year’ at The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland’s 2021 Awards at the London Park Lane Hilton Hotel last night. The Awards, which were hosted by BBC Breakfast presenter and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Dan Walker, recognise those individuals, teams, projects and initiatives that help organisations to better serve their stakeholders and society through innovative and exemplary governance.

Baroness Berridge, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System, has acknowledged the vital role that governance professionals play in academy trusts and confirmed that more widely promoting and supporting the role of the governance professional in trusts is at the top of the DfE’s priorities for this year.

With the passing into law of the Charities Registration and Regulation Act 2019, many charities on the Isle of Man are taking stock of what they do, how they are governed and what the future may bring. The Chartered Governance Institute UK & Ireland is holding a lunchtime talk, therefore, aimed at those working in the charity sector in the Isle of Man and also those working in the field of governance in general.

The clerking role is not given the weight it deserves because the term ‘clerk’ does not reflect the important governance work that they do, according to ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute. The term ‘governance professional’ better reflects the important advisory and supporting role that they play and the DfE should introduce the mandatory requirement in law for academy trusts above a certain threshold to employ a qualified governance professional. Furthermore, the DfE should provide guidance to ensure the remuneration of a governance professional reflects the level of responsibility required to support the board with its many legal, regulatory, educational and ethical requirements.