Transparency data

BEIS Departmental Board: terms of reference

Published 5 July 2022

Last updated: April 2022

To provide expert advice, support and challenge to ministers and senior officials on the operational implications and effectiveness of policy proposals and corporate functions in BEIS, focusing on getting policy translated into results.

Roles, functions and delegations of the Board

To provide strategic and operational leadership of the department by advising on the operational implications and issues affecting the department’s performance and scrutinising departmental programmes, policies and performance.

To operate according to the recognised principles of good corporate governance in business:

• leadership – articulating a clear vision for the department, giving clarity about how policy activities contribute to delivery of this vision and setting risk appetite and managing risk
• effectiveness – through rigorous challenge and scrutinising performance
• accountability – promoting transparency through clear and fair reporting
• sustainability – taking a long-term view about what the department is seeking to achieve

Objectives

1. To support delivery against the department’s vision, in particular through the agreement of a single departmental plan reflecting the strategic agenda, and on- going monitoring of delivery against implementation plans and robust performance objectives.

2. To provide constructive challenge on the real-world impact and deliverability of policies and scan the horizon to ensure the department is sufficiently prepared to face future challenges and exploit opportunities, ensuring strategic decisions are based on a collective understanding of evidence-based policy issues.

3. To ensure there is sound management of and clear accountability for finance, resources and risk within the department, underpinned by clear standards and values. This includes scrutiny of organisational design and the allocation of resources; identification and oversight of key major projects requiring specific attention; and ensuring risks are clearly defined and managed, setting the department’s risk appetite, and ensuring risk controls are robust via the Audit and Risk Committee.

4. To ensure the department has the capability to deliver and to plan to meet future needs, assessing current levels and plans for improvement, reviewing overall talent development, and scrutinising staff engagement plans and results.

5. To ensure the Board has the capability to deliver, evaluating its performance and that of its members, and ensuring succession plans are in place.

6. To oversee effective governance of the department, its agencies and sponsored bodies, and to scrutinise their performance to ensure the department is held to account for its outcomes and measures itself against best practice in the public and private sectors.

Membership

See the current membership.

Other ministers and DGs may also be invited to attend, depending on the subject matter.

Other officials will attend as necessary to assist with discussions on their area of work.

External delegates may be invited for specific Board items.

Frequency, length of meetings and quorum

The Departmental Board will meet quarterly. Meetings of the Committee will normally last 2 to 3 hours. Business can be done by correspondence, where necessary.

A quorum of the Board will consist of 2 ministers, 2 executives and 2 non-executives, including at least one of the Secretary of State or the Permanent Secretary or the lead non-executive.

Relationship with other governance structures

The Board is directly supported in its work by the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee, and the Nominations Committee.

The Board is also supported by the Executive Committee which is responsible for driving and managing the daily business of the department. The Executive Committee in turn delegates to its Committees (People and Operations; Performance and Risk; and Projects and Investment).

Secretariat support, evaluation and conflicts of interest

The Secretariat will work with the Chair, the Permanent Secretary and the Lead Non-Executive Board Member to develop and agree agendas; it will commission papers and send out papers; provide a minute of the meeting and ensure that action points are followed up.

The Chair is responsible for the agenda but suggestions of items for discussion are welcome from all members. Suggestions should be made to the Secretariat.

Papers should be circulated 5 working days in advance of a meeting.

The Board will be evaluated annually, as part of a 3 year cycle in which the first 2 reviews will be led by BEIS Governance Business Partner Team and the third review will be independently run with support of Cabinet Office.

The Secretariat will maintain a Register of Interests which all members will be expected to update. This Register will inform the secretariat of any conflicts of interest that they need to take into account when circulating papers for the Departmental Board. The Register could be subject to FOI requests and the release of any information will be determined on a case by case basis.

Success measures

Success for this Board, over time, will be judged by whether:

• BEIS has a clear strategic direction and objectives
• BEIS understands its risks and manages them appropriately
• BEIS is a high performing department, delivering its objectives efficiently and effectively
• BEIS has the capability to deliver its objectives for now and the future
• BEIS corporate governance is effective and complies with the Code of Good Practice