Do we really need to pay school governors, as Sir Michael Wilshaw suggests? I have spent the past 18 months travelling around the country speaking to local authorities about raising governance standards, and the message is clear: school governors can be ineffective not because they lack motivation or incentive, but because they so often lack confidence and the understanding of what good governance actually looks like.

For the most part, governors are bright, engaged, motivated individuals who often do not possess the necessary practical information to hold the school executive to account. I spend some of my time trying to address this problem, advising Ten Governor Support, a company that answers the questions of time-poor governors. It has responded to thousands of questions and not once has a governor asked about how or whether they should be paid. Governors need the appropriate tools to do their jobs effectively. Pay is not the priority.

Lord Bichard, House of Lords.