a) Andrew Hill asked the following question of Councillor Burbage:

Does the Council believe in the principle that as wide a range of people as possible are able to participate as School Governors - and if so what steps are taken to achieve this?

Councillor Burbage responded that the council believed that school governors should be drawn from all communities across the Borough so that a rich variety of views were considered to further improve the quality of education in schools. The council encouraged local people to register their expressions of interest via the RBWM website which also listed current vacancies and our team would work with governing bodies to make appropriate appointments.  The Governor Services team works closely with the One Borough volunteer group to raise awareness and provides extensive training support for all governors throughout their tenure so that no experience was needed to get started. 

Mr Hill, by way of a supplementary question, referred to the Peter Clarke report (‘Report into allegations concerning Birmingham schools arising from the ‘Trojan Horse’ letter, July 2014), in particular Recommendation 12:

"Recommendation 12: Unless there are genuinely exceptional circumstances, there should be a presumption that an individual will only be a governor at a maximum of two schools at any one time. All local authorities and multi-academy trusts should review their current governor arrangements, and where they identify an individual holding multiple positions they should consider the appropriate steps to ensure that a wider range of people are able to hold governor positions and that no single individual has undue influence over a number of schools."

 Mr Hill stated that the report had been accepted in Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education. He also highlighted that the duty imposed was placed upon councils themselves and not merely Academies.

Councillor Burbage responded that he was not familiar with the detail but he was confident that the decisions taken on local authority representative appointments were taken very seriously. Mr Hill’s comments would be taken on board in relation to future appointments. He highlighted that it was not always the council making the decision, many were appointed by the school.

The Mayor commented that Governor Services worked with schools to ensue they have the best quality governors. If Mr Hill wished for further information he should put it in writing.

b) Andrew Hill asked the following question of Councillor Burbage:

What does the Council's company called "Two5Nine" Ltd do?

Councillor Burbage responded that Two-5-Nine had been set up to generate income from non core activities to support the Council’s low tax manifesto commitments and financial position.

Currently the two main activities that had been transacted through Two-5-Nine had been:

·          a series of social care training courses held in partnership with Buckinghamshire New University held in a property owned by the council in Ray Mill Road East;

·         the letting of 8 private rented sector flats in York Road Maidenhead (the council does not have the power to directly offer the sort of short term lets that are used in the private rented sector

Mr Hill, by way of a supplementary question, commented that looking at the company’s website he would not know that was what the company did; the site represented Two5Nine as a sort of ‘management consultancy’ company. He commented that Councillor Burbage’s declaration  as to whether or not the activities of Two5Nine were conducted for profit differed from that by Councillors Dudley and Bicknell.

Councillor Burbage responded that he was unsure which declaration was the most accurate and he would ensure that the correct declarations were added to the website. If the website was not clear in explaining the role of Two5Nine he would ask officers to add more detail