The UK Department for Transport published the new Ports Good Governance Guidance. The Guidance focuses on corporate governance for all statutory harbour authorities in England and Wales. It also includes sections relevant to all types of statutory harbour authorities with specific detailed guidance for trusts ports and local authority owned ports.
This guidance sets out principles of openness, accountability and fitness for purpose in managing harbours in the broad public interest.
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It is in 3 main parts:
- guidance to all statutory harbour authorities (SHAs)
- guidance specifically directed at trust ports
- guidance specifically for local authority (LA) owned ports
The guidance recognises the particular circumstances of those ports and covers corporate governance, stakeholder engagement, provision of information, safety and a number of other topics.
Moreover, as the new Guidance says, in August 2017, the UK Government announced a package of changes to corporate governance. As part of implementing these changes, during 2018 legislation will require:
- Around 900 listed companies to annually publish and justify the pay ratio between CEOs and their average UK worker;
- All companies of a significant size to publicly explain how their directors take employees’ and shareholders’ interests into account;
- All large companies to make their responsible business arrangements public.
Leadership: The board’s job is to set an organisation’s strategic aims, ensure that the necessary financial and human resources are in place to meet those objectives and to review management performance in meeting them.
Board effectiveness: The board needs to be of a sufficient size so that the requirements of the business can be met. It should include an appropriate combination of executive directors and NEDs such that no individual or small group of individuals can dominate the board’s decision taking.
Accountability: The board should present a fair, balanced and understandable assessment of its position and prospects. This responsibility covers annual reports and information required to meet statutory requirements.
Remuneration: Executive directors’ remuneration should be designed to promote the long-term success of the business. Any performance-related elements need to be transparent, stretching and rigorously applied.
For more information click on the following PDF
