Board Chairs of the Future - mentoring scheme: end of scheme report

Recommendations

1. In any future iteration of the mentoring scheme, as in this iteration, Board Chairs should continue to be asked to nominate members from groups with protected characteristics currently under-represented at Chair level.

2. In any future iteration, Board Chairs as mentors should continue to be drawn from a wide spectrum of public bodies, backgrounds and levels of experience.

3. Use the lessons learnt from this iteration to amend and update the mentoring manuals and supporting materials for the scheme.

4. The formal workshops should continue alongside informal activity such as virtual coffee catch ups.

5. Ensure that all mentoring participants are provided with details of how to access the bespoke online learning platforms that the Scottish Government's Public Bodies Unit and NHS Education for Scotland have developed for board members, especially in areas such as governance and succession planning.

6. Participants should have access to training on working with Ministers and media training. Women were particularly keen to have access to this training. Where at all possible, this should be integrated with, or run jointly with, the training offered by the Public Bodies Unit and/or NHS Education for Scotland (see also recommendation 5).

7. Resource costs for iterations of the mentoring project for future Chairs must continue to be balanced against other demands on Board Chairs and project administrators, and on other priorities for improving the diversity of public appointees.

April 2021