Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a stipend to aid the recruitment and retention of school governors.

We regularly assess all aspects of governance, including the attraction and retention of highly skilled governors, to ensure that governing bodies have the skills, knowledge and behaviours they need to be effective. The governance of schools in England is based on the principle of voluntary service. The government is committed to maintaining and promoting this principle for boards of both academies and maintained schools. This is in line with charity law and corporate governance practice in other parts of the public sector.

To assist schools and academies in the recruitment of governors, the department nationally commissions support to recruit high calibre people into governance through Inspiring Governance and Academy Ambassadors.