News from the Board: a busy start to the new year

Happy new year to everyone. I hope 2024 is going to be a good year for you. At CIEH we have already started work to address our challenges and we are making positive progress, so this is an early new year update for you. 

Firstly, I’ll start with informing you that Kirpal Tahim has resigned from the Board of Trustees. Kirpal has been a member of our Board for five years and also served as a member of the Welfare Fund Committee for three years. I’d like to thank him for the time and support he has given the Board and CIEH. 

I’d like to formally welcome Mark Elliott, our President, to the Board. Whilst Mark has been attending the Board meetings in an observer role, his term formally started on 1 January. It’s great to have him on board in his full capacity as a Trustee. 

The first Board meeting of 2024 

On 8 January we held an additional Board meeting to discuss items which needed progression and decision, ahead of our Board meeting scheduled on 30 January. The monthly diarised Board meetings are already pretty busy. So, thank you to the Trustees for giving your time. 

At this meeting we discussed the following: 

• The composition of the Board. We considered whether it was necessary to appoint Trustees outside of the normal operating procedures. We currently have 5 vacancies on the Board and some very significant items to make decisions on over the next few months. The Board decided it was not necessary at this time. However, it is a priority that we progress with recruitment to fill the five vacant Trustee positions and we need to ensure that the Board has the right mix of skills and knowledge. 
• The format of a Skills Audit tool. This will enable us to identify skills gaps on the Board. The Board approved the tool and the information from this audit will help in the upcoming Trustee election and appointment processes. I would like to encourage members to consider putting themselves forward to be part of Board. The election process is planned to commence next month and the appointed trustee vacancies will be advertised later in the spring.  
• A Redaction Policy for the minutes of Board meetings and MLPAG. As you will know, the Board are prioritising openness and transparency in everything we do. The Board approved this Policy.   

Meeting with key stakeholders 

In terms of other areas of work, I am very pleased that we will be meeting with REHIS representatives in February to consider how we can start working together in the future. Thank you to REHIS for this opportunity to develop a closer working relationship. 

Mark and myself attended a meeting of the Association of Chief Environmental Health Officers and updated them on the Board’s work so far since the appointment of the new Trustees. 

Meet the leaders  

Mark and I are  looking forward to taking part in a CIEH Conversations: meet the leaders event being held on Wednesday 14 February. This is an opportunity for CIEH members to engage with the CIEH leadership team and ask any questions. I hope to see many of you there. 

AGM Motions  

In relation to the Motions supported by Members at the AGM we have made some progress, but there is more work to be done. 

I want to finish with an apology to members. I'm sorry that we did not respond within the agreed timescale to the motions in relation to Board’s declaration of interests and details of consultants. There have been some significant matters for the Board to consider, some of which have been unforeseen such as ensuring the interim arrangements were in place for the Chief Executive post, and also financial and property matters. This meant the motions had to be deferred on the Board’s agenda. I know these are important to both Trustees and members and we have provided an initial response to the proposer and seconder, they have given us some feedback which we are now considering. 

We will of course give a full update on the progress of the motions at the next AGM which will be held on 28 June.  

As always, you can get in touch with myself by emailing [email protected].