Written question asked by Lord Hampton (Crossbench) on Monday, 6 July 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 20 July 2026. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Friday, 17 July 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Schools: Governing Bodies

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to introduce a national system for monitoring vacancies on the boards of trustees of schools and colleges.

Answer: There are no immediate plans for a national vacancy monitoring system, but colleges supply unfilled vacancy data for further education (FE) governors, which helps us to understand vacancy rates in FE colleges. The department closely monitors the statistics produced annually by the National Governance Association. We fund the Governor Recruitment Service to help with FE governor recruitment. The department also works with partners to support recruitment to boards, including sharing resources for recruitment through the effective governance resources produced in partnership with governance organisations. This information is available to view on GOV.UK.

Secondary information