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Digital Decision-Making: The Key to Future-Proof Local Governance

When the vote counting ends and returning officers confirm the results, the real work begins for councils across the UK. Newly elected members are sworn in, committees formed, and meetings scheduled – all while councils continue to uphold their transparency and accountability obligations under the Local Government Act and Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation. Balancing these responsibilities can be challenging, especially for democratic services teams and council officers already managing heavy workloads. The key to maintaining strong, transparent governance lies in embracing digital processes. This article explores how replacing paper-based systems and streamlining workflows can improve the quality, speed and...

What Makes a Good Board of Directors: The 11 Key Elements

A good board of directors is essential in any sector, leading the organisation from the front and guiding it towards its strategic goals. When the team works in harmony and individual members complement each other and collaborate successfully, the organisation reaps the benefits.  However, the opposite is also true. Writing in the Financial Times, Novaquest Capital Management chair Gerry Brown states that: “Ineffective boards bring enormous consequences for society. Misperceptions of risk have led many boards, and thus their organisations, into poor decision-making or worse.” So, what makes a good board of directors? This article explores this question and highlights...

9 Principles of Good Governance for Better Decision-Making

Good governance is essential across the private and public sectors to ensure that organisations meet the needs of their stakeholders, create momentum to reach their goals and maintain compliance with the legislation that relates to them.  This is why leaders in charge of guiding private and public institutions must understand the principles of good governance. This article explores what these principles are and how you can implement them to drive your organisation onwards.  Key takeaways Principles of good governance  Transparency The Council for the Defence of British Universities published a 2024 report on “University Governance: Views from the Inside,” in...

How to Produce a Complete Meeting Agenda + Example Template

iBabs’ State of Meeting Management Report found that stakeholders within large corporations spend a large proportion of their time in meetings. In fact, 76% of attendees in these businesses were in meetings for more than two days a week in total. With this commitment, it is essential that these meetings are worth your team’s time and that they are productive. This is especially important when meetings involve your executive team. Your senior leaders are key to the strategic success of your business and you must use their time efficiently, gaining the benefit of their expertise and experience through well-structured and...

Data Transparency in Local Government: What Every Municipality Needs to Know

Around the world, governments are under increasing pressure to provide greater transparency. Citizens want to know not only what decisions are being made but also why and how. Access-to-information laws—such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the United States, the Aarhus Convention in Europe, and the Wet open overheid (WOO) in the Netherlands—are designed to ensure that public bodies are open, accountable, and serve their communities responsibly. At the heart of these regulations lies the same principle: citizens have the right to access government information. By disclosing policies, decisions, and operations, municipalities can build a culture of trust,...

Transparency Compliance: 5 Common Mistakes When Publishing Council Decisions

Across the world, governments are under pressure to increase transparency and make information more easily accessible to the public. From the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in the United States to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in the UK, the Aarhus Convention in Europe, and other open-government initiatives, municipalities and councils face growing obligations to disclose agendas, meeting documents, and decisions. These frameworks, designed to improve transparency across all levels of government, generally mandate councils to make: While this helps the public, press and politicians hold governing bodies to account, it also creates an administrative burden. Without a structured...

How to Define Committee Member Roles and Responsibilities

Committees are an integral part of governance in organisations across sectors, from large businesses to non-profits and government bodies. They allow for more effective decision-making by hearing diverse perspectives, supporting group problem-solving and allowing for in-depth analysis of complex issues that might not be possible in regular board meetings.  The Chartered Governance Institute states that “In large companies, fully functioning individual committees add significant value and under certain legislation they are a mandated requirement or defined best practice. In smaller companies, committees are often combined to cover multifunctions such as an audit and risk committee or remuneration and nomination committee.”...

The Complete Guide to Recruiting Diverse Board Members

Diversity and inclusion have long formed part of companies’ ESG considerations. Businesses understand that many investors and customers are keen to see greater representation across gender, race, ability and other sections of society in organisations. And the business case is strong. Onboarding directors with different backgrounds and perspectives will, of course, introduce fresh ideas and problem-solving skills to the boardroom. In addition, McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for female representation on boards were 39% more likely to outperform those in the fourth quartile. There was a similar result for those in the top quartile for director ethnic...

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