JOB DESCRIPTION

POST:
GRADE:
DEPARTMENT:
RESPONSIBLE FOR:   Senior Governance Officer and Governance Officer
RESPONSIBLE TO:   Head of Governance, Compliance and Risk

Governance and Risk Manager
4a
Governance, Compliance and Risk

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
This is a key role, supporting the Head of Governance, Compliance and Risk in the management of a
comprehensive central governance service across the College.

Key elements of the role are the provision of professional governance and secretariat support to the
Council and the Board of Trustees and their main committees. This includes setting board agendas in
line with strategic priorities and ensuring that papers are prepared in a timely fashion and address the
required issues effectively.

This role also supports the College’s risk management function ensuring the development and
embedding the College’s risk management policy and procedures and reporting to the Trustees and
Audit and Risk Committee.

The post holder is responsible for managing a wide range of relationships with senior stakeholders
(Council and Trustee members, Executive Directors and other senior staff) as well as maintaining
relationships across the College at all levels.

The post holder will be expected to contribute to continuous improvement of the team’s processes
and procedures whilst offering excellent customer focus and service.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1.

Governance and Secretariat

•  Manage processes to ensure that agendas, papers, minutes and actions are prepared and

issued within required timelines.

•  Ensure that board and committee minutes are prepared to a high standard, and actions are

completed in a timely manner.

•  Quality assure board submissions, to ensure that they meet required quality standards, issues

are appropriately explained, and decision recommendations are valid.

•  Manage board attendance to ensure that all board meetings are quorate and board members

have access to any necessary subject matter expertise.

•

Forward plan meetings and business schedules and brief Chairs as appropriate.

•  Contribute to the development of the College’s governance framework including the

production of the governance handbook and drafting and review of terms of reference,
leading on key projects as appropriate.

•  Support and manage the board and committee appointment, induction and review process

2.

Risk and Audit

•  Support the Head of Governance, Compliance and Risk to review, develop and implement the

College’s risk management policy and framework.

•  Facilitate risk management discussions working with colleagues across the College.

•  Maintain the College’s risk register and ensure it focusses on key risks, and is accurate and

up to date.

•  Lead on the development of a communication programme to support the embedding of risk

across the College.

•  Develop and maintain the Internal Audit Actions Tracker and update to report to the Audit and

Risk Committee.

3.

General

•  Support the Head of Governance, Compliance and Risk with additional projects.

•  The post-holder is expected to represent the College in a professional manner in relation to
his or her responsibilities and in ensuring their own continuing professional development.

4.

Key skills, experience and competencies

•  Experience of providing professional governance services and acting as secretariat to high

level meetings, working within established governance frameworks and providing support and
guidance to those attending the meetings

•  Excellent written communication skills, with the ability to summarise complex discussions

•  Ability to manage own projects, problem solve and develop solutions

•  Excellent interpersonal skills and team working skills.

•  Proactive and flexible in managing workloads, tight deadlines and competing priorities.

•  Excellent administrative and organisational skills, demonstrating ability to deliver work on

time and to a high standard, consistently meeting targets, planning ahead and prioritising.

•  Ability to confidently liaise with both internal and external senior officials and to work

collaboratively with stakeholders and partner organisations, and maintain good relationships.

•  Experience of Risk Management - desirable

This job description will be subject to review in the light of changing circumstances and may include
other duties and responsibilities as may be determined.  It is not intended to be rigid or inflexible but
should be regarded as providing guidelines within which the individual works.

The Royal College of Surgeons of England is an Equal Opportunities Employer.

All College employees are responsible for records held, created or used as part of their work for the
College including patient/client, corporate and administrative records whether paper-based or

electronic, which also includes emails. Records should be managed and stored appropriately and
should in all cases comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General
Data Protection Regulation. Employees should have read and understood the College’s Data
Protection Policy and Records Management Policy and should follow all agreed records management
and data protection procedures, seeking advice where necessary.