January 2009

last updated:March 2010

Meeting of Executive Committee, 13 January 2009

Management Accounts and Budget Adjustments 2008/9
The Principal Accountant highlighted the key areas of the paper and along with the Director of Corporate Services answered a series of Member questions on the detail including TLA and the marketing budget.

Committee noted the management accounts to 30 November 2008 and approved the proposed revisions to the 2008-09 budget under its delegated powers as set out in the paper.

Perceptions of the General Teaching Council for England: Report by RAND Europe
The Director of Communications presented (as previously requested by the Committee) a draft of a paper for January Council reporting the principal findings of the RAND Europe perceptions audit.

The Committee welcomed the draft and subject to minor textual amendments and a couple of points of clarification from the Director of Communications regarding comments as to the size of Council, recommended that the paper should go forward to Council.  In response to a question about adopting a more strategic approach to partner management, the Director of Communications stated that more detailed work on this would be undertaken within the Leadership Team and would be reported back to Committee regularly.  With reference to the section in the paper regarding the organisations interviewed in the audit who were represented on Council, the Director believed that every effort should be made to ensure that the relationship between the Council and the nominating organisation is utilised to its fullest extent.

Committee, subject to some textual amendments and clarifications by the Director of Communications approved the draft paper for January Council and the recommendations that Council:

• note the information contained in the Perceptions Audit by RAND Europe
• note that outline budgetary provision has been made for a further report in 2010-2011
• agree that the full report, suitably anonymised, be released for publication by RAND Europe once the process of feedback to participants has been completed, on or after 1 April 2009.

Governance Update
The Council Secretary summarised the key areas of his paper and took the Committee through the various recommendations.  Discussion centred on the forthcoming public appointments process and how the Member Skills Analysis was being used to inform the process.  Further discussion covered the development of the Advocacy programme in early 2009 upon which the Director of Communications provided clarification, a possible breakout session at July Council regarding Council effectiveness, and the process for electing Committee Chairs for the 2 year period 1st September 2009 to the 31st August 2011 which Members noted would be subject of report in the early summer.

Committee:

• confirmed the process for the Chair and Vice Chair elections as set out in section 4.1 of the paper for report through to Council in January
• recommend Council to agree to offer the NCSL and TDA reciprocal observer status, with speaking rights, at Council meetings
• noted the timetable and preparations for the 2009 public appointments process
• agreed in principle that a breakout session is incorporated in to the July Council meeting to allow for a discussion on ‘Council effectiveness’ as recommended by the AM&R Committee recognising that it might need to have regard to any proposals around governance as part of the Teaching in 2012 programme
• noted the outcomes of the Governance Internal Audit and endorsed the plans for the 2009 exercise
• noted progress with the Member advocacy training programme.