Agenda item

To receive an update on the continued progress of the Governance and Future Vision project work to secure a sustainable and bright future for Alexandra Park & Palace including consideration of the NCVO Good Governance code which trustees will consider at their forthcoming Board meeting (2 March 2010).

The Committee received the NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) Good Governance code and tabled presentation slides, introduced by the Interim General Manager, Alexandra Palace who apologised on behalf of Rebecca Kane, who was unwell. Mr Gill emphasised that the potential structural models of governance for Alexandra Palace were still under consideration. The pros and cons of all the options, , will be presented to Trustees at their meeting on 2^nd March 2010 where the Board will be recommended to adopt the NCVO Code of Good Governance , ultimately made bespoke to reflect the outcomes of the trustee and stakeholder away days and the particular circumstances of Alexandra Palace & Park.  The Code is based on  7 key principles:

1.                  Board leadership

2.                  The Board in Control

3.                  The high performance Board

4.                  Board review and renewal

5.                  Board delegation

6.                  Board and Trustee integrity

7.                  Board Openness

The Committee noted that relevant information will be available on the Alexandra Palace website from 2^nd March 2010 and that an open day will be organised to enable members of the public to be consulted on the future of Alexandra Palace and Park.

The Committee was informed that future stages would be to develop policies and procedures, a scheme of delegation and Trustee inductions.  The Chair enquired about the timeframe for completing the review of the code and was informed that making the code bespoke to AP  could take more than a year to complete. By May 2010 Palace officers aimed to be using the NCVO toolkit and would identify areas of non-compliance with the NCVO Code of Good Governance. 

Referring to Page 50, the Board in Control section of the Good Governance Code, Jane Hutchinson, Alexandra Residents’ Association, highlighted the potential change in Trustees of the Palace after the May 2010 election and that having political members on the Board presented conflicts of interests. The Interim General Manager recognised that it was not ideal to have a turnover of Trustees but, in response to potential conflicts of interests, stated that Council Trustees were regularly reminded that they must set aside any personal or political considerations.   Council Members were also required to declare their Trusteeships at other Council Meetings and will in most cases remove themselves from debates. 

David Frith, The Rookfield Association, reminded officers that at the stakeholder away day interested groups were unanimous in their recommendation that all Trustees should be independent.  In response, the Interim General Manager, Alexandra Palace, explained that this would require a change in the Alexandra Park and Palace 1985 Act of Parliament. The Interim General Manager highlighted that a recent meeting with the Charity Commission discussed this issue and he advised that he would report back to the Advisory Committee on this in due course once Trustees had been informed of the discussions.

In response to Committee Members comments the Interim General Manager, Alexandra Palace emphasised that current Trustees were experienced professionals but agreed that the Palace would benefit from having more experienced professionals as Trustees.

Harry Aspden, Warner Estate Residents’ Association, expressed concern that the code was not mandatory and that there were no sanctions if the code was not followed.  Mr Gill explained that the code did not require total compliance, but that areas of non compliance should be explained and this was the first piece of work he expected to do, subject to Board approval of adopting the Code.

In response to Mr Aspden’s questions the Interim General Manager, Alexandra Palace stated that the project steering group for governance of the Palace was set up in approximately October 2009 and included: the Chair of the Board, Cllr Hare, the Interim General Manager, Alexandra Palace, the Managing Director APTL, LB Haringey Director of Corporate Resources and a number of co-opted members who attended as required, including consultants.  The consultants, KPMG, had evaluated 6 potential models of governance and more could be presented during the review.

The Committee noted that the programme for officers to feed back to the Board on Governance issues had slipped by 4-6 weeks.

The Committee was unhappy that the Governance Report considered by the Board at it’s meeting on 12^th January 2010 had not been part of the Advisory Committee’s agenda papers.

Mr Aspden asked a number of questions regarding the London Borough of Haringey’s Budget, which included a Capital Bid for the Palace.  The Interim General Manager, Alexandra Palace, explained that the budget would be considered by Full Council on 22^nd February.

RESOLVED

i.     That the Board be asked to note the comments of the Advisory Committee and is encouraged to aspire to meet the requirements of the NCVO Good Governance Code.

ii.         That the Board be informed that the Advisory Committee would like an opportunity to contribute towards the 3 year business plan for Alexandra Palace before it is approved.