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4.3 Governance meetings
4.3.1 Meeting structure
18.
To encourage a focus on top level strategy and to allow trustees with less time to serve, the board should move to meet four or five times a year for half a day or a day for formal board meetings with an option for a limited and reducing number of telephone meetings in between. Other activities such as policy exploration, ensuring board members get to know each other, briefings by outside experts and governance training should be organised around board meetings.
19.
To keep up with events, decisions between meetings with implications for governance should generally be taken by the Chair consulting with the Chief Executive, with the Chair consulting trustees as he / she feels appropriate and keeping the board advised or seeking board approval, as appropriate.
4.3.2 Meeting management
20.
Board agendas should be carefully planned by the Chair and Chief Executive to ensure that they focus on strategic governance matters. The Chair should be responsible for ensuring that all papers for board meetings are of high quality, in an appropriate tone and focus on strategic issues.
21.
The Chair should continue to summarise board discussions in meetings with a view to moving the board to take a decision. When the board is considering delaying a decision, the Chair should check the implications of this delay with the Chief Executive who should make the implications of the delay clear to the board at the time.
22.
To accord with best practice the board should have part of at least two meetings a year with only the Chief Executive present, and part of at least two meetings a year with no executives present.
23.
The board should discuss its forward agenda at least twice a year.
24.
The Secretary should be responsible for ensuring that minutes are a clear and complete record of meetings, particularly on issues which might have legal ramifications, such as conflicts of interest. The nature and degree of detail in
Compass Partnership
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