Note on order: the Chair indicated that he had received indications that some Committee members wished to discuss information provided in the exempt appendices. Accordingly, he took this item as last on the agenda (after Items 4.2 and 4.3).

The Reasons for Urgency as set out in the report were agreed.

Lorraine Feyi-Shonubi (Governor Services Officer) introduced the report that

set out details of applicants who had applied to be nominated as the local authority governor at Tower Hamlets maintained schools. Lorraine explained that a high proportion of the applicants were from BAME backgrounds.

At this point, the Committee resolved to exclude the press and public (see Minute 6 for the full resolution).

Some members of the Committee indicated concern with the application information presented in the report and in the exempt appendices as:

·         Some of the applicants’ connections to the borough were unclear. For example, the question “Do you or have you had children attending schools in Tower Hamlets, been a school governor before or employed in a Tower Hamlets School or by the council?” covered a range of scenarios and answers were sometimes unclear to which element(s) they were responding affirmatively.

·         Control of school governing bodies could be manipulated by persons who did not have the best interest of the school as motivation. For example, it could be used to instigate conversion to academy status against the wishes of the Council, parents and pupils. Knowing the closeness of governors’ links to the local community was one way the Council could safeguard against this.

·         The process for selection and preference of local authority governors was unclear. Some members indicated the Committee would welcome a work plan item looking at this in more detail.

·         Vacancies for positions, even where long-term, were not evidence of lack of interest amongst local people. The Committee needs to investigate if there are additional barriers to their participation.

Other members of the Committee indicated the applicants as presented should be approved as:

·         There was a rigorous process in place to select appropriate candidates who demonstrated the skills and attributes necessary to perform the role. The evidence before the Committee said the proposed candidates had passed that process and that the relevant schools had informed the Council they supported the appointments proposed.

·         There was no criteria that school governors must be from or have connections to the local community.

·         Recruitment to governor roles was challenging. One of the  roles had reportedly been vacant for up to three years because the school felt previous candidates proposed by the Council did not have the necessary experience.

·         It was understandable that persons in the education sphere are interested in pursuing a role as a governor and should be encouraged to take up vacant positions.

Other points raised by members included:

·         Details of the demographic makeup of the board of governors in each case would be helpful.

·         The Council should ensure applicants that have children attending schools in the borough have priority for local authority nominated school governor positions.

Councillor Maium Talukdar proposed, and Councillor Kabir Ahmed seconded a motion that candidate (b) be nominated to the indicated position and the remaining candidates’ nominations be deferred until further information on the selection process for school governor applicants is received. On a vote of four in favour, three against and no abstentions, it was:

RESOLVED that:

1.    Candidate (b) from paragraph 3.2 of the report is nominated to the position of local authority governor at Halley School.

2.    The nominations of candidates a, c, d and e from paragraph 3.2 of the report are deferred pending review of additional information.