Expert Governance Support Services

Tender description

Governance, Culture and Behaviours – Specialist Support Prospectus Introduction Experience has shown that whatever the symptoms, eventually, where RSLs get into difficulties, and regulatory involvement is necessary, the root cause comes back to governance failure. Governance failure can relate to systems and process but, more often than not, to culture and behaviours. The Regulation team is seeking expressions of interest from suitably skilled and experienced organisations to collaborate on a project to: • Further develop our approach to assessing governance, particularly the culture, behaviours and leadership aspects • Enhance the skills and knowledge of the regulation team across the full range of housing association governance • Ensure regulatory responses, in cases where there are regulatory concerns, are as effective as possible and are successful in driving necessary improvements Project outcomes • To develop a governance assessment model, based on the 2017 Regulatory Board for Wales Report, The Right Stuff – Improving Housing Association Governance in Wales: The Right Stuff which: o Provides an evidenced assessment of the quality of organisational governance in its widest sense but particularly on governance culture, behaviours and leadership and in protecting tenants and Welsh Government investment. o Provides an evidenced assessment of the governance structure of an organisation - is it appropriate to deliver the organisations business plan effectively and does it meet the required standards and comply fully with any appropriate code. o Determines a “governance strength” scoring mechanism to provide an evidenced, comparable governance strength rating for RSLs in Wales. o Identifies and prioritises areas for improvements in governance at individual and sector levels. • To develop a risk matrix to assist in assessing the balance of risk when considering non-standard judgements. • To develop a proportionality matrix to ensure that Regulatory judgements and interventions are proportionate and consistent over time. • To work with the Regulation team to “assure” stakeholders the model is fit for purpose and is effective in the delivery of regulation – achieve “buy in “from the sector. • To provide in depth training for regulation staff to successfully deploy the assessment model and ensure staff have the skills, behaviours and confidence to effectively challenge and support Boards and senior leadership teams in matters of governance. The training to include: o Key governance issues for the RSL sector in Wales o Recognising poor governance o The consequences of poor governance o Use of regulatory powers