The Christie Foundation Trust Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22

Directors’ Report

Board meetings and committees The Board supports the Nolan principles and makes the majority of its decisions in meetings open to the public. The Board met in public and in private eight times during 2021/22. It also held four informal board time outs, one of which was a joint board and governor time out; this afforded the opportunity for our governors to input into discussions around the Trust’s current and future plans. The Board delegates some of its work to Assurance Committees. They receive a copy of the full minutes of these meetings. This helps the Assurance Committees to demonstrate a stronger audit trail of the work of their Committee as well as steering their agenda in line with key risks (as identified in the Board Assurance Framework and divisional risks). Attendance by Directors at Board and Assurance Committee meetings is shown toward the end of this section. Register of Interests Details of company directorships and other significant interests held by Directors which may conflict with their management responsibilities are held in the register of interests of Directors. This may be viewed on our website at Board of Directors Accounting policies for pensions and other retirement benefits are set out in the notes to the accounts and details of senior employees’ remuneration can be found in the remuneration report. There are 14 Board members (eight non Executive and six Executive directors; the Executive Medical Directors share a vote on the board).

Process for evaluation of performance In line with the NHS Foundation Trust Code of Governance (provision B.6), all Directors have an annual performance appraisal and a personal development plan. The Chief Executive is responsible for the performance appraisal of the Executive Directors. The performance of the Chief Executive is reviewed by the Chairman. The results of these appraisals are reported to the Trust’s Remuneration Committee. The performance of the Non-Executive Directors is reviewed by the Chairman and is reported to the Council of Governors, using a process agreed by the Council of Governors. The performance of the Chairman is reviewed by the Non-Executive Directors led by the Senior Independent Director in a process agreed by the Council of Governors. The Board of Directors and the Audit and Quality Assurance Committees undertake an annual self assessment exercise to ascertain their effectiveness. The responses are collated and discussion is held on the key points arising from the review. The focus of the discussion is on those areas which clearly need improvement or where there is great variation in answers. Board appointments All Non-Executive Director appointments made since 1 st April 2007, including the Chairman, were made by the Nominations Committee and were approved by the Council of Governors. The Chairman and Non-Executive Directors are appointed for an initial period of 3 years and may be removed by the Council of Governors in accordance with Annex 6, paragraph 2, of our constitution. Our Executive Directors are appointed through an open competition panel; their contracts of employment do not contain an expiry date.

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