Changes In The Support Arrangements For Parent Governor Representatives
28th January 2008
Ministers agreed in 2000 to create a range of support mechanisms to enable Parent Governor Representatives (PGRs) to share experiences, debate issues and develop their role. In July 2000, the Department contracted the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to establish a support network for (PGRs). Arrangements under this contract enable PGRs to contact each other and share news, views and best practice, provide a website and regular newsletter, and facilitate meetings of the national PGR committee.
The support contract expires on 31 March 2008 and Ministers have decided that it will not be renewed. Ministers are of the opinion that the role of the PGR is now well developed, support is available locally through democratic services teams in local authorities and can be provided by alternative means through DCSF.
We need to ensure that the Department is making the best use of resources by spending on the right things in the right way to get the best outcome for our customers. As with all Government departments we are having to examine our expenditure to ensure that we are targeting funds on activities which support departmental priorities so that whilst some priority services will continue to grow, other provision will be reduced or end. These are difficult decisions but reflect the Department's commitment to maximising the benefit to children and young people from every pound spent.
From 1 April 2008 the PGR website will be hosted on the DCSF website, prior to moving onto Schoolsweb which is under development, and the discussion facility will also transfer to a restricted area within this website. Full details of web addresses will be provided later. Existing email accounts provided under the support contract will continue, however, no new email accounts will be provided by DCSF from 1 April 2008.
The PGR Induction Guidance and Mentors Guidance, produced by the Centre for Public Scrutiny, will remain available on the PGR pages of the DCSF website.
As the PGR role is a local role, holding a local authority to account and feeding in parental views on the local authority's discussions and decisions on education, the national committee will be disbanded. As now, PGRs will still be able to raise issues direct with DCSF via the Public Communications Unit, or the School Governance Unit where the query relates to a governance issue, and will be able to input into any consultation exercise on the DCSF website.
Local authorities are encouraged to support PGRs in a similar way to elected members. The Local Government Act 2000 suggests that, to operate effectively, PGRs require similar support to elected members from their local authorities. This support should include induction and further training, advice from the committee secretariat, provision of relevant meeting papers, travel and other necessary expenses, access to information and advice on communicating with parents. PGRs may also receive an allowance, by virtue of the Local Authorities (Members Allowance) Regulations 2001 and the Local Authorities (Members Allowances) (Amendment) Regulations 2003, as co-opted members. This award is discretionary and the amount, if paid, is determined by the relevant authority.
I hope you and your colleagues will understand why we are changing the arrangements. We are committed to providing the support that we have in the past, only in a different way. I assure you, we continue to value our relationship with the PGRs as we work to further improve school governance and parental involvement in education.
Yours faithfully
Geoff Friston
School Governance Unit
Responses
Pat Cherry - by email, 28th January 2008
Jamie Gordon - by email, 28th January 2008 |
