Policy

Our work

We respond to formal and informal consultation, to new legislation and regulation, and to market developments. We engage with a variety of market participants to ensure that we stay in touch with the latest developments and are able to influence their activities. We seek to share our activities with members and potential members through ICSA guidance notes, through Governance and Compliance, the ICSA magazine, through technical briefings, other member communications and through our own discussions with members.

We are always happy to discuss issues with members. Find our contact details in the team section above.

Research

The Policy team has a rolling programme of reviewing and updating guidance notes across all sectors and welcomes input and assistance with this and, in fact, all of its other work. Policy runs consultations – setting up steering groups, organising meetings and analysing comments, writing of final reports and recommending good practice. Recent work includes:

Latest research

• The Future of Governance
• The FT-ICSA Boardroom Bellwether survey - winter edition
• The FT–ICSA Boardroom Bellwether survey - summer edition 
• The Company Secretary: building trust through governance
• Report of a senior practitioners' workshop on identifying indicators of corporate cultures
• IBE ICSA Mazars Survey Report - The pros and cons of Culture by Committee
• The nomination committee - coming out of the shadows
• Corporate governance content of MBA courses

Please contact us if you would like to know more or contribute in any way.

Guidance

We have a wide range of guidance to support and advise governance professionals. Search our resource centre for the following:

• guidance notes – a members-only collection of guidance and exemplar materials packed with expert advice for company secretaries and other governance professionals.
• reports – fresh thinking on contemporary issues in governance, risk and compliance from the ICSA policy and research team.
• professional reference books and e-resources from ICSA to develop your knowledge and skills.

Visit the resource centre

Can't find what you're looking for? Please contact us for help.

Consultations

The Policy team responds to regulatory consultations, for example, from the FRC, BIS, the EU and the NHS, amongst others. This includes a continuous engagement with the authorities in order to influence and inform consultations even before they are launched.

We always welcome the input of our members on these consultations – please contact us if you would like to know more or to contribute to this work.

Read the 2015 consultation archive

The team

Peter Swabey FCIS

Peter Swabey is Policy and Research Director at ICSA. Based in London, he is responsible for developing the profile of ICSA and the governance profession with members, regulators, policymakers, employers and other stakeholders by delivering thought leadership and lobbying campaigns promoting strong governance as the vital ingredient for success in organisations.

Peter, who joined ICSA in 2013, has more than 30 years’ experience of company secretarial work. He was formerly Company Secretary and Industry Leadership Director at Equiniti and a Director of Equiniti David Venus, a Company Secretarial Services provider. Peter is a member of a number of industry committees and working parties, and is a regular speaker at conferences and events, with an industry-wide reputation as an expert on shareholder and governance matters.

pswabey@icsa.org.uk

Julie Bamford Msc LLB FCIS

Julie is Head of Policy, Corporate at ICSA. Before joining ICSA she spent six years with Standard Chartered PLC as Deputy Group Secretary and Company Secretary. She has more 20 years experience working as a chartered secretary in the financial services sector, initially in life assurance and pensions, then in investments, before moving into banking.

Over her career, Julie has seen many changes in company secretarial practice and corporate governance, and has experienced numerous challenges faced by the financial services industry, including the banking crisis of 2008. She has also worked through the many changes in the regulatory environment and to corporate governance best practice that followed as a consequence.

Julie joined ICSA Policy Department in 2010 to work on various projects including responses to government and regulatory consultations, to create best practice guidance, and has specific responsibility for EU issues. She is a Fellow of ICSA, has a first degree in Law from the University of London and a masters degree in Corporate Governance. 

jbamford@icsa.org.uk

Sheila Doyle MSc

Sheila has worked in the Policy team for over ten years and in various different roles. She is responsible for the technical enquiries helpdesk, the Institute’s archives and provides general support to the Policy team. Questions about guidance notes and consultations – or anything else – can be directed to her via the contact us portal.

sdoyle@icsa.org.uk

Louise Thomson FCIS

Louise is Head of Policy (Not-for-Profit) at ICSA. Louise has worked at ICSA since 2001 where she is responsible for promoting, supporting, representing and developing the profession within the not-for-profit and public sectors. She has produced codes of governance for not-for-profit organisations and NHS clinical commissioning groups, research documents in NHS governance, guidance notes and best practice guides relating to governance, compliance and administration, and highlighting the pivotal role the company secretary plays in any organisation.

Louise has 18 years experience of working in, and with, charitable and NHS organisations and has gathered valuable insight into the governance challenges facing boardrooms as a charity trustee, school governor and pension trustee. 

lthomson@icsa.org.uk

Liz Bradley

Liz joined the ICSA Policy Department in the role of Policy Manager, Corporate, to support the team in responding to consultations, and developing good practice guidance and thought leadership.

Her strong interest in corporate governance has developed from a legal background. Liz graduated from Christ Church, Oxford, in 2010 with a first class honours degree and two prizes in Law with Law Studies in Europe – a degree that also involved a year studying German law at the University of Bonn.

After gaining invaluable commercial experience working in Bristol, she went on to train in the City with the magic circle law firm Slaughter and May in 2013. Liz qualified as a solicitor in 2015, having completed seats including tax and financial regulation, as well as work for FTSE 100 clients on corporate transactions of international significance.

Her post-qualification role at Fox Williams LLP enabled Liz to support a number of entrepreneurial private companies, giving her exposure to the full breadth of the corporate spectrum before moving into policy work.

lbradley@icsa.org.uk

Lobbying

• 31 January 2017 - Response from Tracey Crouch MP, Minister for Sport on the sports governance code
• 24 January 2017 - Letter to the Prime Minister on corporate governance
• 5 January 2017 – Letter to Tracey Crouch MP, Minister for Sport on the sports governance code
• 30 August 2016 - Letter to the Prime Minister on corporate governance