FY21 Board evaluation OVERVIEW OF FY21 BOARD The Chairman led the internal Board evaluation in May and EVALUATION PROCESS June 2021. The process involved each Director and the Company Secretary completing a confidential questionnaire, CONFIDENTIAL QUESTIONNAIRE which included questions on a number of relevant, forward- Completed by each Director and looking topics as well as a number of regular ‘standard’ Company Secretary questions, for example about committee performance, stakeholder engagement, agenda topics and meeting management.All Board members actively engaged in the INDIVIDUAL MEETINGS WITH process and provided open and constructive comments. The DIRECTORS AND COMPANY Company Secretary collated the comments and the Chairman SECRETARY summarised the outcomes and suggested actions, including Focus on specific topics, informed by those likely to influence Board composition, which were questionnaire results discussed and agreed by the Board. Overall there was satisfaction with the way that the Board is PRESENTATION OF performing, and there was agreement about the areas which RESULTS TO BOARD we need to focus on to improve our effectiveness. Discussion Agreed actions FY21 Board evaluation summary A summary of conclusions and actions from our latest evaluation is set out below: Topic Conclusions Action Learnings from the Board relationships have been strong and collegiate, with Chairman and Company Secretary to manage agenda last 12 months a good level of support for the Executive Board. The Board carefully. faced a number of difficult decisions and some Ensure that there are regulardiscussions of ‘What keeps suggestions were made as to how the process could be us awake at night?’. improved. Continue to develop the work of the Risk and Resilience The Board felt that it should continue to focus on the Committee. factors that make us resilient to future shocks. Board members to feed back suggestions to Nick and We should continue to refine the KPIs to measure business Laura on additional KPIs which they would find useful. performance. Governance and Given the increasing burden of governance requirements, Chairman, Committee Chairs and Company Secretary strategy the Board agreed to continue to address these continue to manage this. pragmatically, and not allow the time spent on these to Keep Committee membership and agendas under impact our focus on strategy. review. The Board should increase its focus on looking at the changing competitive landscape, changing consumer trends, technology changes and evolving social trends. Composition Agreement that we should aim for a Board size of between Continue search for an additional female NED, being nine and eleven Directors. mindful of the need to comply with regulatory and investor requirements on diversity. Talent and Continue to build on succession plans for the Executive The Board should consciously focus on building on the succession Board, and to oversee the talent management activity progress made in the year. Aim to develop formal throughout the Group. emergency and planned succession plans for Nick, Laura and members of the Executive Board. DUNELM GROUP PLC ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2021 127 GOVERNANCESTRATEGIC REPORT FINANCIAL STATEMENTSOTHER INFORMATION