Damian Hinds announces doubling of funding for governor training
Education Secretary Damian Hinds spoke at the National Governance Association conference on Saturday. Here we take a look at the key announcements in his speech.
- More funding for governors – Funding for governor and trustee training will be doubled, reaching £6m. He also promised that improved guidance will be developed for governors, trustees and clerks.
Mr Hinds was clear that he would take action where an academy trust is providing weak governance and suggested governance and financial management were not yet subjected to the same scrutiny as other aspects of trust leadership and development.
- Broader range of governors – He also said he wanted to see a broader range of people becoming school governors, particularly young people and those from minority ethnic backgrounds. To support more people going into governance he spoke of appealing to employers to encourage staff to become governors and give them the time to do so.
- Leaders’ remuneration – The Secretary of State said he wants trusts to “bear down” on excessive salaries for Head Teachers and CEOs. He said pay rises for non-teaching management should not exceed those given to teachers. However, no substantive measures to enforce this were announced. Academy accounts will be required to detail salaries of £100k+ and the Department will “publicly challenge” salaries deemed too high. Mr Hinds said he will also want to see the percentage of teaching time undertaken by anyone paid over this amount.
- Related party transactions – From next April trusts will need to seek ESFA approval for any related-party transaction, which is when an academy trust pays for goods or services from a company linked to a member or trustee or their family. It will apply to transactions over £20,000, though those under £20,000 will still be declared.
- Assessing trust performance – Mr Hinds spoke of the need for a new system to assess which MATs are failing the schools they have taken on and which MATs should take on new schools. He acknowledged that the current system of performance tables, inspections, financial data and RSC oversight had its limits.