Governance
The Board met on 19 July 2019 to consider proposed adjustments to the procedure by which it makes decisions, to consider creating a provision to allow for temporary appointments and to note the progress of ARB’s internal Governance Review.

General Rules – decision making and voting
Our Board has an established set of General Rules that enables it to facilitate the purposes of the Architects Act 1997. The previous Rules allowed for a ‘parliamentary’ style procedure whereby ‘motions’ were formally proposed and seconded. It was recommended the Board agree to the proposed changes, which would allow it to vote by consensus where possible, and that these changes should become effective immediately. The Board took into consideration feedback from a six week consultation on the proposed adjustments before agreeing to all recommendations.

General Rules – temporary appointments
The revised Architects Act 1997 came into effect on 7 January 2019. To ensure the Rules align with the new requirements of the revised Act, it was recommended the Board consider making additions to the Rules to allow it to make temporary appointments should it need to do so. The Board agreed to consider the recommendations and to consult on the proposed additions so that interested parties have the opportunity to provide their views before any final decision is made.

The consultation was launched on 22 July 2019. Click here for more details and to give your views on the proposed additions to the General Rules.

Internal Governance Review Report
At its meeting on 1 April 2019, the Board agreed to undertake an internal Governance Review that would clearly define the role of the Board and reconsider ARB’s non-statutory committee structure. At its meeting on 19 July, the Board agreed to a statement setting out the purpose of the Board, along with recommendations for a revised committee structure.

The new committee structure retains the Prescription, Audit and Remuneration committees, though with revised responsibilities, and includes a new Policy Committee. It was agreed that the Executive and the Chair would offer proposals for the population of the committees for the Board’s consideration at its meeting on 11 September 2019.

Our website will be updated to reflect these changes shortly, until then more information on the new committee structure can be found in the Board papers:

Audit and Risk Assurance Committee
Policy Committee
Prescription Committee
Remuneration and Appointments Committee

If you have any queries regarding the General Rules adjustments or the Governance Review, please contact Emma Matthews our Head of Qualifications and Governance (emmam@arb.org.uk or 020 7580 5861).