Non Departmental Public Bodies, particularly high-profile ones like BECTA, need to adhere to the highest levels of corporate governance if they are to credibly discharge their corporate goals.

We have recently spoken to several sources who have raised concerns about governance at various educational NDPBs, but the one whose name came up most frequently was BECTA. We found two recent incidents which, while they may meet BECTA’s governance standards, still create the impression that BECTA should be doing better.

First was the announcement that Andrew Pinder, BECTA’s Chair, who was appointed in January (taking over from John Roberts) has been appointed a Senior Vice President, Global Solutions at ICT supplier Entrust. Pinder is also a director at United Utilities and sits on Intel’s Global Advisory Board. While BECTA said in a press statement that they think Pinder will continue as Chair, they also see no conflict of interest in his executive role at Entrust. Entrust also say that the former e-Envoy’s role will be to help them chase business such as ID cards and new biometric passports. Unfortunately, neither of these views cuts much mustard with many other companies whose activities are effected by BECTA.

The second case of dubious governance is the departure of Nicola Newman, BECTA’s former Director of Communications, who is now Head of Marketing and Communications at Ramesys, selected as an approved supplier for BECTA’s ICT Infrastructure Services Framework in August. Nothing unusual there, even if Ramesys is a former sponsor of BECTA’s awards. What has raised eyebrows is that Ms Newman worked out her notice. In most organisations, when an employee is going to work for a company with whom their current employer has any sort of dealing, they are put on ‘gardening leave’ to avoid possible perception of conflict of interest.

We are not implying that either Mr Pinder or Ms Newman have behaved with anything but the utmost probity. What we find odd is that BECTA, and indeed the DfES, seem to have a blind spot when it comes to the serious issue of corporate governance as it relates to possible conflicts of interest. It seems Ministers and bureaucrats, so swift to point out shortcomings in the private sector, don’t understand that if quangos like BECTA are to remain credible they need to have equal if not higher standards of corporate governance. Perhaps the three new Board members being recruited by Saxon Bampfylde Hever may help address this Achilles' heel?
www.becta.org.uk

www.entrust.com

www.ramesys.com