The Financial Reporting Council (‘FRC’) discussion paper focused on board succession for executives and non-executives of those companies to which the UK Corporate Governance Code (‘the Code’) applies. Inevitably this involves consideration of succession below board level. Its content may also have relevance for other organisations.

The FT–ICSA Boardroom Bellwether is a twice-yearly survey of FTSE 350 companies that seeks to gauge the sentiment inside UK boardrooms. It canvasses the views of their company secretaries to find out how boards are responding to the challenges of the economy, market conditions and the wider business and governance environment.

The latest edition of Smith & Williamson's Enterprise looks at issues surrounding 'Scale-up Britain' and includes an article by Louis Cooper, NEDA CEO on the Contemporary NED, which follows up some of the issues raised at the Contemporary NED event held in the Autumn.

Boardrooms are under unprecedented levels of scrutiny. Fallout from the financial crisis continues to shape the governance debate while fresh scandals over accounting, along with continued discussion of executive remuneration, have helped throw a spotlight on non - executives and their responsibilities.