
PRINCIPLE/PROVISION DETAILS OF HOW THE COMPANY COMPLIES
Section 6: Division of Responsibilities (continued)
Principles (continued)
G. The Board should consist of an appropriate combination of Directors (and, in particular,
independent non-executive Directors) such that no one individual or small group of
individuals dominates the Board’s decision making.
The Board has a good mix of skills and works
effectively together, under the leadership of the
Company’s Chair, to achieve the objectives of the
Company. The Board comprises of four non-
executive directors all of whom are independent
from the Investment Manager, this helps to
ensure that appropriate challenge is made at
Board meetings as and when required.
H. Non-executive Directors should have sufficient time to meet their Board
responsibilities. They should provide constructive challenge, strategic guidance, offer
specialist advice and hold third party service providers to account.
The Board as part of its annual evaluation
analyses the time required to meet their Board
responsibilities and confirm that they have
sufficient time to meet them.
I. The Board, supported by the Company Secretary, should ensure that it has the
policies,processes, information, time and resources it needs in order to function
effectively andefficiently.
The Board, supported by the Company Secretary,
keeps under regular review the policies, processes,
information, time and resources it needs in order
to function effectively and efficiently. There
are regular review meetings between the Chair,
Audit Chair, Investment Manager and Company
Secretary to ensure effective and efficient
functioning of the Board.
Provisions – Director Responsibilities
8. The responsibilities of the chair, senior independent director, Board and committees
should be clear, set out in writing, agreed by the Board and made publicly available.
The annual report should set out the number of meetings of the Board and its
committees, and the individual attendance by directors.
These are set out in the Directors’ Report on
pages 41 to 43. The Annual Report also contains
a Committee Report for each Committee. These
can be found on pages 61 to 71.
The Board has not appointed a SID.
9. When making new appointments, the Board should take into account other demands
on directors’ time. Prior to appointment, significant commitments should be disclosed
with an indication of the time involved. Additional external appointments should not
be undertaken without prior approval of the Board, with the reasons for permitting
significant appointments explained in the annual report.
There were no new director appointments during
the year.
Provisions – Board and Director Independence
10. At least half the Board, excluding the chair, should be non-executive directors whom the
Board considers to be independent. The majority of the Board should be independent
of the manager. There should be a clear division of responsibilities between the Board
and the manager.
All the Directors are independent from the
Investment Manager.
11. The chair should be independent on appointment when assessed against the
circumstances set out in Provision 13.
The Chair, Gill Nott, was independent on
appointment and remains independent.
12. On appointment, and throughout the chair’s tenure, the chair should have no
relationships that may create a conflict of interest between the chair’s interest and
those of shareholders, including:
• being an employee of the manager or an ex-employee who has left the
employmentof the manager within the last five years;
• being a professional adviser who has provided services to the manager or the
Boardwithin the last three years; or
• serving on any other Boards of an investment Company managed by the
samemanager.
The Chair, on appointment and throughout her
tenure, continues to have no relationships that
may create a conflict of interest between her
interest and those of shareholders. The Chair
is and has always been independent of the
Investment Manager, in the capacity of employee,
professional adviser or serving on other Boards
managed by the same Investment Manager.
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US SOLAR FUND PLC Annual Report and Financial Statements