GOVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS
Purpose
1. To present the analysis of the responses to the Executive's questionnaire on college governance and accountability.
Background
2. The Executive wrote to the chairs of incorporated colleges at the end of July 2005 asking them to return a survey by 9 September to build up a picture of how Boards have changed over the last two years.
3. A total of 31 responses were received from Scotland's 41 incorporated colleges. The respondents are listed in the annex.
Analysis
A. "Consider future independent involvement in Board appointment process."
1a) Has your College recruited new board members since April 2003?
Yes: 30/31 97%
No: 1/31 3%
1b) If yes, please say how many, and give the basis for their appointment.
Total number of new board members in Scotlandsince 2003 is 179.
On average there have been 6 new appointments per board.
Breakdown of Appointments:
Academic Staff Rep: 14
Non- Academic Staff Rep: 15
Local Enterprise Company Rep: 10
Student Rep: 15
Other Members: 127
1c) Did you commission external involvement in the appointment process? For how long has this been your Board's practice?
Yes: 7/31 23%
No: 23/31 74%
No recruitments: 1/31 3%
1d) If yes, please describe the role and expertise of the external body or person.
Examples of the use of external experts was on the interview panels.
· Ethnicity Experts
· Legal Practices
· Other College Chairs
· Chambers Of Commerce
· Insurance Assessor
· Trades House
· SQA
· ASC
B. "Encourage college Boards to achieve a more diverse and representative balance of membership, taking account gender, race, age and disability."
2a) To what extent does your Board's appointment process take account of issues of diversity and equality?
Positive : 31/31 100%
All of the replies demonstrated a commitment to the issues of diversity and equality. Some colleges included this in their advertisements for posts whilst others ensured training for all board members.
2b) In broad terms, how would you describe the diversity of your Board in comparison to 2-3 years ago?
Same: 11/31 35%
Similar: 5/31 16%
Change: 15/31 49%
More than 1 of the changes below may have been given by the 15 Respondents acknowledging change:
Greater AgeRange : 8/15 53%
Better Gender Balance: 8/15 53%
Geographical Spread: 1/15 7%
Increase SkillsRange : 2/15 13%
C. "Ensure that the appointments process followed by all college Boards are consistent and follow good practice in public appointments."
3a) How is your Board made aware of what constitutes good practice in public appointments?
Tools used -
Guide for College Board Members: 8/31 26%
SFEFC Circulars: 6/31 20%
Commissioner for Public Appointments: 5/31 16%
Principal: 3/31 10%
Training: 3/31 10%
Nolan: 2/31 6%
Internal HR Procedures: 2/31 6%
No response: 2/31 6%
3b) Please describe each of the main steps in your appointment process.
Typically the main steps involve:
· Vacancy is first considered by the Board of Management;
· Meeting of a Nomination Committee is then arranged, they decide on person specification;
· Recruitment begins, this may involve adverts in the local press, online advertising through college or ASC website, recruitment consultants and recommendations;
· All applications received are considered against the person specification;
· Interviews are then carried out by the Nominations Committee; and finally
· A recommendation of appointment is made to the full Board.
3c) Please describe any changes to your Board's recruitment policies and procedures over the last 2-3 years?
No Change: 14/31 45%
Changes: 17/31 55%
Respondents who noted changes may have offered more than one of the following:
Inclusion role descriptions: 2/17 12%
Advertise more widely: 3/17 18%
Skills Based: 5/17 29%
Inclusion of independent assessor: 3/17 18%
Collaboration of adverts: 1/17 9%
Regularly review procedures: 2/17 12%
D. "Make greater use of powers to co-opt individuals with specialised skills and expertise."
4a) What use does your Board make of its ability to co-opt individuals with specialist skills and expertise to committees of the Board?
No Use: 12/31 38%
Use: 19/31 62%
4b) Has your use of this facility increased over the last 2-3 years?
No: 12/31 38%
Yes: 19/31 62%
4c) Can you please provide any examples of where co-option has taken place.
The figures below cover the 19 positive responses.
Estates: 3/19 15%
Finance/Accounting: 3/19 15%
Audit: 4/19 21%
Multi-cultural: 3/19 14%
Mergers: 1/19 5%
HR: 1/19` 5%
IT: 1/19 5%
Academic/Education: 2/19 11%
Business: 1/19 5%
Project Management: 2/19 11%
E. "Better utilise the public spiritedness and expertise of Board applicants by looking at the scope to encourage unsuccessful applicants to offer their skills to another college."
5a) Do you advertise Board vacancies centrally on the ASC web site?
Yes: 7/31 23%
No: 24/31 77%
Five respondents showed an interest in exploring this option in the future.
5b) Do you make unsuccessful applicants aware of Board vacancies in other colleges?
Yes: 5/31 16%
No: 26/31 84%
5c) Do you liaise with other colleges when seeking to recruit Board members?
Yes: 6/31 19%
No: 25/31 81%
5d) Describe any difficulties your Board has faced in attracting applicants of the desired calibre. Have these increased or improved in the last 2-3 years?
No current difficulties: 30/31 97%
Difficulties: 1/31 3%
There was some potential future issues highlighted by respondents:
· increasing competition from remunerated public posts on Health Boards and local government committees;
· ability to attract black minority ethnic applications;
· the consistency of the calibre of applications; and
· the rural location of some Scottish colleges and their resulting pool of willing applicants.
F. "Introduce a national training programme for Board members."
6a) How helpful has the introduction by the ASC of revised Board Member training arrangements been?
High Impact: 13/31 43%
Medium Impact: 13/31 43%
Low Impact: 4/31 14%
Aberdeen College did not answer as they only recently rejoined the ASC and have yet to attend any of the events.
6b) Are there any ways in which you consider training arrangements could be further enhanced?
The following suggestions for enhancing training were offered:
· varied training locations
· specialised training events on issues such as audit and finance
· shorter sessions that were part day not full day sessions
· The preparation of units that could be delivered by the college at a local level to reinforce development
· a greater use of online training opportunities to help problem of time commitment
6c) How many of your Board members have participated in some sort of Board training?
· all Board members have participated in individual college run training events
· on average 6 members per board have attended ASC lead training
G. "Examine the training arrangements for Secretaries to Boards and ensure that the role of the Secretary is defined in guidelines to Boards."
7a) From your point of view, and from your Board's, how successful are current arrangements for the training for Secretaries to the Board?
Fine: 11/31 35%
Require more: 7/31 24%
Referred to
Secretaries Network: 4/31 13%
Unaware opportunities: 3/31 10%
Limited: 2/31 6%
Better Papers: 1/31 3%
Too many cancellations: 1/31 3%
No response: 2/31 6%
7b) As Secretary to the Board, do you consider that your role is sufficiently defined and understood?
Yes: 25/31 81%
No: 3/31 10%
Needs further clarification at Induction: 1/31 3%
No response: 2/31 6%
There was however a concern that the role and seniority of the position of secretary to the board still varies widely from college to college.
ANNEX
LIST OF RESPONDENTS
Aberdeen College
Angus College
Anniesland College
Ayr College
Banff and Buchan College
Borders College
Cardonald College
Central College of Commerce
Clydebank College
Cumbernauld College
Dumfries and Galloway College
Dundee College
Edinburgh's Telford College
Falkirk College
Fife College
Glasgow College of Nautical Studies
Glasgow Metropolitan College
Jewel and Esk Valley College
John Wheatley College
Kilmarnock College
Langside College
Lauder College
Moray College
Motherwell College
North Glasgow College
North Highland College
Oatridge College
Perth College
Reid Kerr College
Stevenson College
Stow College