Committees

The following describes the roles and responsibility of committees within PDEC.

Overview

There are three main committees that do work across key themes. These are

The Glossary Committee is responsible for building and promoting a common language for the Personal Data Ecosystem and is accountable for maintaining an exhaustive glossary of terms and concepts related to same.

The Research Committee is responsible for ensuring that PDEC has a forward looking and relevant research programme to support its mission and core principles and the needs of its members in whatever roles they undertake within the personal data ecosystem

The Interoperability Committee is responsible for promoting the maximum level of interoperability across and between the Personal Data Ecosystem roles to afford the maximum flexibility and potential for innovation and alignment to our core mission and principles.

The governance board of PDEC approves creation of committees and their terms of reference

  • Proposals for committee formation can come from anywhere
  • Draft terms of reference can be produced by anyone in the defined format and are subject to approval and ratification by the Governance Board

Each committee purpose is to provide a focus on one or more specific areas or topics deemed relevant to the mission, purpose and goals of PDEC.

  • Each committee is by definition a virtual team in terms of location, membership and collaborative and flexible means of working.
    • Committee members are volunteers
    • Any budget set for committees must be approved by the Governing body
    • Members of a committee must be members in good standing of PDEC under one of the membership forms defined
    • The precise approach for each committee may be different and vary based on the work program and members but the upward and across reporting will need to be in a consistent format.
  • Each committee exists for as long as it needs to and can disband itself or be disbanded by the Governance board
  • Each committee will have a terms of reference that is aligned to the mission, purpose and policies of PDEC and its form of Governance. Overlap between committees’ terms of reference will be avoided as much as is practical.
  • Committees are not islands and independent, they are responsible and accountable for execution of their terms of reference and as part of that they will need to coordinate and share information across committees with terms of reference touch or can potentially overlap or feed into each other.

Membership of a committee denotes a commitment to execution of the terms of reference and the investment of the time deemed necessary to ensure that outputs are delivered in a timely manager

Each committee has an elected chair who serves at the will of the committee for a fixed term and is subject to reelection. The Governance board has the authority appointment a chair on an interim basis if none can be found or not agreement can be reached in the election of a chair. Where there is a tie in voting for the role of a chair the Governance board will exercise a casting vote.

Membership of committees will be a public record. Transparency is a key objective.

All members must adhere to the PDEC code of conduct and act in the best interests of PDEC all times.

The value of ensuring that committee membership is refreshed and that undue reliance is not placed on particular individuals should be taken into account in deciding chairmanship and membership of committees.

Effective teamworking is paramount in committees. All members are expected to seek a positive form of discussion and engagement and seek solutions, it is about debate and delivery outputs in a timely manner to the required deliverable description.

Committees will either reach a unanimous decision or a majority decision of a quorate meeting of the members.

  • Quorate is defined as no less than two thirds of the members or a minimum of three members. Honorary PDEC members may serve on committees but do not have a vote nor can their presence consist a quorate
  • Where members votes are equal the Governance board will have casting vote
  • Members will be given reasonable opportunity and notice of a vote by the setting of a notice to vote and a deadline for voting
  • Voting can be carried out remotely via any mechanism that records the members vote e.g. email, show of hands, survey, conference call. All votes are recorded in terms of outcome.
  • The names of who voted and how they voted remain a committee record only.
  • A members vote is not an asset or right that can be traded for anything and would be a breach of the PDEC code of conduct if so treated.
    • Breach of code of conduct in this manner would require immediate departure from the committee or loss of vote

Committee meetings should be flexible in configuration and approach and set out a clear agenda and record minutes and actions arising with clear assignment of responsibility for actions.

Committees must publish a program of work which will include a timeline for each item within the program, any dependencies between it and other program items within the committee or other committees, any specific milestones and any specific costs associated within it.

All programs of work are subject to formal approval by the Governance Board.

All programs will be presented in a consistent PDEC format to enable ease of roll up into an overall PDEC program plan

  • Each item in a program plan of a committee will have a deliverable description set out at the beginning before work commences. The contents of a deliverable description will include the following
  • Deliverable purposeWhat is it for? What must be different as a result of this deliverable?
  • Derivation Where will it be derived from? What reference documents and authorities etc., methods and processes to be used.?
  • Deliverable compositionWhat must it be comprised of? What component elements must go into it to make it complete and fit for purpose?
  • Deliverable quality criteria What characteristics and features will make it fit for purpose? I.e., completeness, accuracy, strategic consistency, internal consistency, consistency with other critical documents, compliance with PDEC standards.
  • Templates and Standardsare there any specific templates or standards for the production of this type of deliverable
  • Internal and external quality reviewersusing the quality criteria above, who within PDEC is able to decide if it is fit for purpose by the requirements of users, technical experts and that it will be affordable / confer value for money?
  • Dates for completion of first draft and final versionwhat are the estimated dates for completion?

Committees have a duty of care and reporting which requires regular status and progress updates on their program of work and plans going forward. These must be delivered to the Governing Body and Chairs of each committee in line with the agreed reporting cycle

  • Committees should escalate via their chair to the Governance Board where concerns or clarifications are required.
    • any member may do so if expressing concerns regarding the chair.

Committees are subject to an effectiveness review by the governing board on an annual basis. The criteria for review will include:-

  • Adherence to terms of reference
  • Deliverables against the agreed work program
  • Quality of deliverables
  • 360 feedback from other committees and PDEC members