There are over 18,500 public appointments in the UK. A large number of these are often vacant, and because of this, their important functions of regulation and governance don’t always work as well as they could. A full board, with the full quota of voices speaking and being heard will be better equipped to cope with the challenges they are facing than a half full one.

Did you know, for example, that out of 300,000 school governor posts, there are currently 40,000 empty chairs at governors meetings?

A recent survey by Common Purpose, an international leadership development organisation, indicated that whilst only one third of those surveyed were aware of any public appointment opportunities, a huge 92% said they would be interested in holding a public appointment in the future. You can read the report here.

So there is interest, and people who want to take part, but what is stopping them standing up and applying for these posts? Why is it when so many people want to get involved, there are so many vacant posts? What are the barriers and how can we start to break them down?