While Joan Sallis’s answer to an Agenda question on a register of governors’ interests (TES, August 29) might be correct as far as local education authority schools are concerned, it is not correct in the case of grant-maintained schools.
As a condition of grant from public funds, GM schools are required to comply with “such administrative and financial principles applicable to expenditure of public funds as are notified to it by the (Funding Agency for Schools)”.
One such requirement relates to the requirement to maintain a register of business interests for both governors and staff with significant financial responsibilities. This requirement is set out in the agency’s official financial guide for governors and managers of GM schools, known as the Rainbow Pack. The agency’s requirements in this regard placed upon GM schools are wholly consistent with the findings of Lord Nolan’s Committee of Inquiry on Standards in Public Life and are a good example of best practice within the grant-maintained sector.
LEA schools would do well to heed the Audit Commission’s strong recommendations on this matter and follow the lead taken by their colleagues in the GM sector in maintaining such registers.
G DEREK McMAHON
Financial controller Albion Wharf Funding Agency for Schools 25 Skeldergate York
