How to manage confidentiality on your board

You have a duty to maintain confidentiality in your role as governor/trustee. Here’s how your board can make sure everyone is on the same page, and what to do if someone breaches confidentiality.

Last reviewed on 14 March 2023
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School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 3395
Contents
  1. Decide what should be confidential
  2. Set expectations in your code of conduct
  3. How to manage a breach in confidentiality
  4. Make sure board members who resign maintain confidentiality

Decide what should be confidential

You and your board should decide what information is considered confidential from your board and committee meetings. Everyone on the board should maintain confidentiality on these matters.  

For example, this will include:

  • Confidential items addressed in meetings and not made available to the public, especially in matters relating to individual members of staff, pupils or parents
  • Details of how individuals contribute to meetings and how they vote 

Read more on when to make minutes confidential.

If you need to restrict any information, you're able to lock documents and restrict the visibility of folders on GovernorHub.

Set expectations in your code of conduct

Set clear expectations of a governor or trustee's role and their behaviour in a code of conduct Include a statement on confidentiality within the code, and make sure that it sets expectations to maintain confidentiality even after leaving office Agree to the code at the beginning