It is essential that Board members of public bodies positively contribute to the governance of their organisation, but often they are expected to do so with limited or no induction and, in many cases, no form of structured introductory training. To undertake their roles and responsibilities effectively, it is vital that Board or Elected Members equip themselves with the necessary skills. CIPFA’s new “Essential Skills for Board Members” course will provide Board Members with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to carry out their role effectively.

The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) is the leading provider of governance training and related services to the public sector across the United Kingdom and is dedicated to improving corporate governance in public bodies.

Our new essential skills course includes emerging issues that that will be essential for Board Members of public bodies to successfully undertake their roles. The content will be relevant to Elected Members, Chairs and Non-Executive Directors (Board Members), Chief Executives and staff in sponsoring departments responsible for liaising with public bodies, whether they have undertaken training before or are new to their role.

To provide maximum benefit to participants, the CIPFA course combines face-to-face training with access to a user-friendly e-learning platform containing a wealth of background reading, best practice guidance and scenario-based case studies. This will enable participants to get maximum value for money from the training on the day.

The e-learning platform will remain available for participants after the event has taken place to facilitate review of the materials and access to a forum to consider key learning points, ask questions and discuss issues arising from the training day with fellow delegates and the trainer.

Those delegates attending the course will also receive a copy of CIPFA’s Board Member Guidance, published in partnership with the Public Chairs’ Forum, an essential reference tool for those charged with governance in public bodies. This document normally sells for £195.

What will I gain from this course?

 By the end of the course, delegates will have:

• Increased awareness of their governance roles and responsibilities and the standards of behaviour they are expected to exhibit
• Considered how to develop and maintain key relationships, for example between the Chair and Board members, the Chair and the CEO and Board members and the executive.
• An understanding of the Board’s role in setting strategy, and how to hold management to account for the performance against strategy through the scrutiny and challenge function.
• A greater insight into the principles of good decision making by a Board and the Board’s collective responsibility for its decisions.
• An understanding of the role of “Board assurance” as a tool for accountability.
• Greater appreciation of how a Board can evaluate its performance and the requirements for individual Board member appraisal.
• An insight into some topical issues of the day.
• Access to a wealth of CIPFA and other public sector best practice guidance.

Course Programme: