FE Governor Recruitment con_15683

A bespoke and targeted governor recruitment service for colleges in England which have been identified as being in particular need of support to strengthen governance. The Service will support the recruitment to key governor roles of a diverse range of candidates who have skills, knowledge and experience appropriate to those roles.

To ensure that the service is targeted on those college governing boards which have the greatest need of help, referrals will be made via the Department. Priority will be given to colleges identified by Department colleagues. However, colleges will also be able to apply to the Department for consideration, for example, where they have experienced considerable difficulty in filling to the role of chair or committee chair, or in covering a particularly significant skills gap on the board.

The Department will assess and prioritise referrals to fit the targets and workflows set out in the contract with the Supplier. In making referrals to the Service, the Department will prioritise cases and roles where a quality appointment is judged to be key to strengthening governance in any given College. This could include but would not be limited to chairs, deputy chairs, and committee chairs for finance and audit.

Suppliers will be expected to have capacity and capability to deliver a quality service to college governing boards, taking into account the challenges of FE governor recruitment, and the demands and responsibilities of being an FE governor. Suppliers must also have due regard to the DfE FE Governance Guide and to the relevant governance codes.

The Supplier shall deliver a minimum of 137 well-matched, diverse and lasting appointments to governor roles during the Contract Period (subject to sufficient referrals). Recruitment should be spread across the three financial years. This might, for example, mean a target of 37 appointments in 2022-23, followed by 50 in each of the years 2023-24 and 2024-25.