The Policy Panel is committed to reporting to the BAFA membership in a number of phases, providing updates on the progress of the BAFA Governance Review.

In this Initial Report, the Policy Panel sets out the details relating to the size and membership of Steering Group and topic specific Sub Groups as they currently stand and provides an initial outline for the progression of the Review in the coming months.

The Steering Group.
 
The structure of the Review saw the BAFA membership presented with a number of opportunities to engage in the Review process, initially as either candidates for election to the Steering Group or as candidates for selection to the Sub Groups.
 
The places on the Steering Group allocated for consideration by the BAFA Board of Directors were filled by the following personnel: Mr Nick Rockell, Mr Jim Messenger, Mr Davie Parsons.
 
One candidate stood for election to the Steering Group - Mr Tom Burridge. Mr Burridge was duly elected. During the voting window, as specified on the BAFA website, one vote was cast - that being in favour of electing the candidate.
 
In addition to the membership of the Group selected by the BAFA Board and elected by the membership, one of the two allocated positions which can be filled by appointment by the Policy Panel has also been filled. Mr Tony Allen has been appointed.

The Policy Panel are currently working to appoint a further Steering Group member when the programme of work moves from identifying strategic priorities to focus upon the necessary governance structure to enable BAFA to deliver those priorities.
 
The Sub Groups.
 
The Governance Review identified an initial set of topic-specific Sub Groups who would work to provide valuable evidence-based recommendations and suggestions to the Steering Group.
 
The initial groups were listed as being:

• Talent Development
• Business Development
• Workforce Development
• Community Competitions
• Contact Football (Youth)
• Flag Football (Youth)
• Flag Football (Adult)
  

Overall, fewer people than anticipated put themselves forward for membership of the Sub Groups which has meant that the Policy Panel, Steering Group and Sub Group membership are currently looking at revised formats for progressing the work. That said, there have been two significant positives which have arisen from the Sub Group selection process.
 
The first is that among those people who have stepped forward there is a depth and breadth of knowledge and skills which will make an invaluable contribution to the progression of the work (membership listed below).
 
The second is that whilst they did not wish to stand for position, there were a number of people who said that they would like to be able to contribute their opinions and perspectives through some formal mechanism.

As a consequence of the latter, varying ways of enabling wider engagement in the process are being considered.
 
It is of note that due to the numbers, one subsequent action of the Policy Panel has been to collapse the two Flag football Sub Groups into one.
 
 
Progression.
 
In the coming weeks, the Policy Panel will publish the refined remits for the Sub Groups and outline the ways in which the wider membership can provide perspectives to inform the process. Once tangible reuslts emerge, these will be published too.
 
 
Questions:
 
Should any person have a question then please contact: bafagovernancereview@gmail.com
 
Sub Group Membership:
 
Tony Athersmith
Jim Briggs
Nigel Brown
Phil De Monte
Andrew Gambrill
Russ Hewitt
Stephen Jones
Tony Miller
Mark Moss
Simon Purcell