Corporate report

Ofsted Board minutes: 15 February 2023

Updated 19 March 2024

Applies to England

Present

Christine Ryan (Chair)

Amanda Spielman (HMCI)

Hamid Patel

Felicity Gillespie

David Meyer

Jo Moran

Jon Yates

Frank Young

Carole Stott

Laura Wyld

Executive attendance

Matthew Coffey (Chief Operating Officer)

Louise Grainger (Director, Finance, Planning and Commercial)

Chris Jones (Director, Strategy and Engagement)

Alex Jones (Director, Insights and Research)

Lee Owston (Acting National Director, Education)

Yvette Stanley (National Director, Regulation and Social Care)

Observer

Andrew McCully (Department for Education (DfE)) (observer)

Also in attendance

Emily Williams (Deputy Director, Strategy, Governance and Private Office) (meeting items, Strategic Risk and Strategic objectives dashboard)

Senior Strategy Analyst (meeting item, Strategic objectives dashboard)

Executive support

Board Secretary and Corporate Governance Team Leader

Corporate Governance Officer

Status: approved at the board meeting on 26 April 2023

Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

Apologies were received from Chris Hanvey and Martin Spencer.

Laura Wyld has been appointed to the Integration of Primary and Community Care House of Lords Select Committee, and the Chair has been appointed a trustee to the OKRE (Opening Knowledge across Research and Entertainment) board.

Minutes, matters arising and action log

The minutes of the last board meeting were agreed as a correct record.

Corporate Governance Framework

The board approved updates to Annex A of the Corporate Governance Framework.

It was agreed that the Corporate Governance Framework will be a standing item on the December board agendas to be reviewed annually. The timing will coincide with the budget cycle.

Board effectiveness: Action plan progress to date

Progress against the board effectiveness action plan was reviewed.

The majority of actions are complete. The board secretary will liaise with the chair and board members to agree dates for appraisals and a stakeholder mapping session will be arranged.

Board development

The external facilitator’s report of the board development day in January was reviewed.

The board discussed the format of board meetings and provided the following suggestions:

• Enough time should be allowed for robust discussion but keep the board meeting to a reasonable length. Longer meetings can result in a lack of focus.
• Board meetings could be supplemented by workshops and sessions dedicated to a focused issue, where necessary.
• Board members agreed it was important to also make time for informal conversations and this could be achieved by attending a dinner the evening before a board meeting.

Jo Moran agreed to work with the chair to take forward the board development day outputs.

HMCI and Executive update

The board was updated on arrangements to manage industrial action; discussed post-inspection surveys and evaluation; the complaints process and our approach to unregistered children’s settings.

Strategic Risk

[Redacted]. The board reviewed and challenged the mitigating actions to reduce the probability and impact of the strategic risks. It was agreed that it would be helpful for the board to receive a briefing on children’s social care notifications.

Action: Children’s social care notifications to be an agenda item at a future board meeting.

Strategic objectives dashboard

The board reviewed the strategic dashboard and progress on the implementation of strategic priorities. The following feedback was provided:

• It would be helpful for the board to receive commentary on metrics that are updated annually. Commentary on these metrics could be provided to the board twice a year.
• It was recommended that the dashboard states clearly that the overall RAG rating for each priority is based on whether we are on track to deliver the actions and is not the same as the strategic risk register rating.

Finance report

The financial position at the end of period 9 (December 2022) was presented to the board.

The board will be briefed on the 2023-24 budget at the April board meeting.

Audit and Risk Committee (ARAC) update

At its meeting on 17 January ARAC reviewed the draft internal audit plan for 2023-24, approved the interim governance statement and received an annual update on fraud risks.

AOB

The board will be briefed on HMCI objectives for the rest of the year at the next meeting.

Emily Williams was thanked for her support and work with the board over the years. Andrew McCully, who is retiring, was thanked for his input and contribution to meetings. The DfE observer will be confirmed in due course.