Ms Mary Hoade:

I will respond quickly. It is important that the universities engage with the nominees to the governing bodies to offer induction training and similar supports so that they can fully realise their potential and be active and valuable contributors to the bodies' deliberations.

In the wider scheme of things, there is merit in the governing bodies reaching out to organisations such as ours and to all the local authorities to strengthen the relationships in areas related to research and policy that are relevant to the local and regional development of the area.