REPORT TO WOMEN'S NATIONAL COMMISSION BOARD

REPORT TO WOMEN'S NATIONAL COMMISSION BOARD

WNC Light Touch Review

Appointment of Interim Chair to WNC

Background

1. At the WNC All Partner's Conference on 14 December 2006, the Minister for Women, Meg Munn, in her keynote speech, announced a Government `light touch' review of the WNC. She said that she wanted to see it `strengthened and renewed.' The Government's terms of reference are attached at Annex A.

`Light Touch' Review

A `Light touch' review is designed to be short and focused. An external reviewer, Rita Donaghy, Chair of ACAS has been appointed and given staff support from WNC's sponsor, the Women and Equality Unit. She will examine the WNC to establish, in broad terms, whether it is fit for purpose and make recommendations for change if appropriate. Terms of Reference are attached at Annex A.

1999 Review of WNC

3. The WNC was last reviewed in 1999. This was a full review lead by a Ministerial group consisting of the Minister for Women (then Joan Ruddock) as Chair; her Special Adviser, Anna Coote; Shelagh Diplock, Director of Fawcett; and Baroness Joyce Gould. The group had secretarial support from the Women and Equality Unit, lead by Janet Veitch.

That review made a number of key recommendations. Chief among these were:

To reaffirm WNC's remit to bring the informed opinion of women to Government
To operate as an independent advisory body with a Chair and Board selected under the public appointments system.
To extend partnership status to a greater number of organisations (the upper limit of 75 was subsequently lifted).

Appointment of Interim Chair to WNC Board

Baroness Joyce Gould was appointed as Acting WNC Chair on 17 May 2007. Background and the terms of the appointment are at Annex B.

WNC May 2007

Annex A

Review of Women's National Commission (WNC)

Draft Terms of Reference

Introduction

Ruth Kelly in her role as Minister for Women is responsible for tackling gender inequality. She is also responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights. The work of the CEHR will impact on a range of other organisations and it is vital that WNC consider how best it can take forward its work programme in this new environment. To aid this process Ruth Kelly, has proposed a light touch review of the WNC to ensure that is fit for purpose and able to carry out agreed objectives in line with its remit originally set out in 1969:

WNC is a non departmental Government body operating at arms length from the Government and its remit is as follows:

“to ensure by all possible means that the informed opinions of women are given their due weight in the deliberations of Government”

Taking into account changes in demographics and development in social policy the reviews overall aim will be to focus on:

stakeholder and Ministers needs
value for money for the public purse
way forward for the WNC

Scope

The review will seek to make recommendations on or around:

how the WNC can best act to deliver its main objectives;
how the WNC delivers its core objectives to act as a two-way channel for effective communication between Government and women's organisations by providing advice to Government and being available for Government to consult;
aligning the WNC's priorities and agenda with the Government's priorities for women;
how the WNC works and consider if ways of working could be improved or enhanced;
how the WNC can best influence Government policy;
the calibre and skills mix for future WNC Commissioners;
the range and scope of the membership of the WNC;
how best the WNC provides measurable outcomes and value for money; and
how Ministers engage with WNC and inform their work programme.

In order to do this the review will seek advice with a range of stakeholders including the active involvement of the WNC Chair:

the Ministers for Women;

WNC Commissioners;

Head of the Women and Equality Unit and other officials; and

Directorate of the Women's National Commission

In addition the reviewer should consult with a range of WNC key partners

It is intended that the Review will look at:

the WNC remit - consider balance between Government informing work programme and WNC Commissioners formulating own work agenda;

WNC resources and consider major areas of spend taking into account Government priorities;

WNC membership - should be diverse and inclusive;

informing a future Memorandum of Understanding between the Department for Communities and Local Government and the WNC taking into account priorities of the Ministers for Women; and
assessing competing priorities in terms of government work streams:

Ministers for Women priorities
Department for Communities and Local Government priorities
wider Government priorities

Tasks

It is anticipated that the key tasks would be as follows:

consideration of performance against business objectives;

discussion with the Ministers for Women, WNC Commissioners, Baroness Margaret Prosser in her role as Chair of the WNC, and Deputy Chair of the CEHR, Acting Chair of the WNC, Janet Veitch Director of the WNC and WNC officials, Angela Mason - the Head of the Women and Equality Unit and officials;

consideration of governance and financial arrangements;

review of existing WNC Constitution;

consideration of resources including human resources;

consider composition of WNC Commissioners and identify options to strengthen long term objectives and needs of the WNC;

undertake at least one focus group activity with WNC key partners;

undertake a high level analysis of WNC membership composition and identify gaps; and

Audit of sponsorship arrangements (WEU and delivery partners).

Governance

The review will work closely the Deputy Minister for Women Meg Munn who will report into Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government and Minister for Women.

WEU will act as conduit as required between reviewer and stakeholders and report to Susan Scholefield the Director General for the Equalities Group, in Communities and Local Government.

Time scale

It is anticipated that work will start in as soon as possible and be completed by within 6 to 8 weeks, preferably by May recess.

Resources

The review will be conducted by one external specialist who will be fully supported by one range 8 and one grade 6 (10%). Support staff will be based in the women and equality unit, who has responsibility for the sponsorship relationship and supporting production of the final report. As this is a light touch review we would hope to keep expenditure limit payments to external parties to a maximum of approx. £5,000.

Annex B

Appointment of WNC Interim Chair

The Women's National Commission (WNC) is an advisory body giving the views of women to Government. They represent women and women's organisations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to ensure women's views are taken into account by the Government and are heard in public debate

The appointment of Baroness Joyce Gould is an Interim appointment for a period of 6 months, after which a permanent Chair will be appointed. This appointment is payable with an annual remuneration of £10,000. The time commitment for this post is currently 5 days per month.

The key responsibilities of the chair are: to give direction and clarity to the Commission's strategic and policy development, to be responsible for the Commission's leadership, and accountable to the Secretary of State for the work of the Commission, and to be responsible for co-ordinating the activities of Commissioners, and to represent the views of the Commission. She will work to guide the WNC through the light-touch review and its findings and recommendations.

Baroness Joyce Gould takes over from Baroness Margaret Prosser as chair of the WNC. Baroness Margaret Prosser stepped down as Chair of the WNC to take up an appointment as Deputy Chair of the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR).

This appointment has been made in accordance with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments Code of Practice (OCPA). OCPA code of practice would normally require an open competition to appoint a new Chair to the WNC. Following Baroness Margaret Prosser's resignation from the WNC to take up her appointment as Deputy Chair of the CEHR and the WNC currently taking part in a light-touch review by the Department for Communities and Local Government, OCPA have therefore agreed to an exemption to their code of practice.

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for an appointee's political activity (if any declared) to be made public.

WNC07/2/06