Board Governance Essentials: A Guide for Chairs and Boards of Public Bodies

This guide offers chairs and board members indispensable advice on the roles that they perform, in turn helping to make their time with the board as effective and fulfilling as possible.

Public bodies are an intrinsic part of the delivery of public services and it is crucial that their boards have the necessary support, knowledge and expertise to operate well. This guide provides the information that boards need in order to excel and explores the components of effective chairs and boards in public bodies across four key areas:

• good corporate governance
• roles, responsibilities and relationships
• standards of behaviour in public life
• effective financial management and transparency.

It has been produced jointly with the Public Chairs’ Forum (PCF) and focuses on existing guidance and requirements for public body boards, building on them to provide a comprehensive and extensive guide for chairs and board members of public bodies in England.