Committees

Four committees advise on matters defined by their terms of reference: The Finance Committee; the Risk and Audit Committee; the Nominations and Remuneration Committee; and the Education, Standards and Performance Committee.

Committee Chairs

Finance Committee Chair - Mr Neil MacDonald

Risk & Audit Committee Chair - Ms Karima Fahmy

Nominations and Remuneration Committee Chair - Mr Ben Gordon

Education Standards and Performance Committee Chair - Dame Reena Keeble

The Finance Committee’s purpose is to:

• ensure that the charitable company properly plans the use of its finances and is adequately funded to undertake projected expenditure;
• review and recommend the annual budgets for approval by the board;
• monitor financial performance against agreed budgets;
• ensure, with the Risk and Audit Committee, that the charitable company's financial statements are supported accurately by management accounts; and
• monitor and review the charitable company's arrangements in relation to investments and make recommendations to the board in relation to the appointment and removal of investment advisors.

The Risk and Audit Committee’s purpose is to:

• ensure implementation of a risk management framework for the Group
• ensure the Charity's annual financial statements are reconciled to the management accounts
• ensure effective audit functions are in place (both external and internal)
• ensure adequate risk management processes are in place
• ensure an adequate internal control environment is established.

The Nomination and Remuneration Committee’s purpose is to:

• oversee the appointments of the Charity Chairs and Trustees
• to approve Executive salaries and remuneration
• reviews the terms of office, skills and attributes of the Trustees
• plan Trustee succession in order to ensure that the Board has available to it the range of skills and experience required to discharge its responsibilities.

The Group Education Standards and Performance Committee’s purpose is to:

• to ensure that the Trust discharges its responsibilities for educational improvement in providing excellent education so that all pupils are able to progress, achieve and to go on to succeed in life.
• to advise the Group Board with respect to group strategic educational priorities and key performance indicators
• to provide an overview, scrutiny and challenge of education performance of all schools
• to receive reports from the Executive Team regarding education standards and performance of schools, and to hold the Executive Team to account, against the approved group strategic priorities and key performance indicators relating to schools’ educational performance
• to review annually the performance of local/cluster governing bodies to ensure they are operating at maximum effectiveness

To receive reports from the Executive Team regarding safeguarding, and to hold the Executive Team to account regarding the effectiveness of policies and processes designed to keep children safe.