AI Governance
AI governance has moved from an emerging concern to a board-level accountability. Institutions across higher education, further education, schools, and the public sector are deploying AI tools at pace. Governance frameworks are not keeping up.
The regulatory landscape is developing. The EU AI Act, the ICO’s guidance on AI and data protection, and sector-specific expectations from funders and regulators are all creating new obligations. Institutions that are building governance frameworks now will be significantly better placed than those waiting for the picture to clarify.
Clark & Company works with senior leadership teams, governing bodies, and information professionals to build AI governance frameworks that are proportionate, defensible, and aligned with current regulatory expectations. The practice contributes directly to national sector thinking on AI governance in education, bringing working insight into how the sector’s challenges are being understood and addressed at a policy level.
AI Strategy Development
Most institutions do not have an embedded, effective AI strategy. They have a collection of decisions made under pressure. Procurement choices, operational workarounds, and policy statements that do not hold up under scrutiny. An AI strategy gives senior leadership a coherent framework for how the institution will adopt, govern, and be accountable for AI.
Clark & Company works with senior leadership teams to build AI strategies that are grounded in the institution’s specific risk profile, aligned with data protection and information governance obligations, and owned at the right level of the organisation.
| Service | Published Price |
|---|---|
| AI Strategy Development | From £3,000 + VAT |
AI Governance Readiness Programme
Most institutions know they need an AI governance framework. Few know where the gaps are or what closing them will require. The AI Governance Readiness Programme gives your institution a clear picture of where you currently stand and a structured, prioritised roadmap for building governance that is proportionate to your risk and compliant with current regulatory expectations.
The programme covers six areas: AI policy and procedure, procurement and due diligence processes, data protection and UK GDPR alignment, staff awareness and acceptable use, and board and senior leadership accountability. Each area is assessed against current regulatory expectations and sector good practice.
Formal deliverables include a written gap analysis setting out findings across all six areas, and a prioritised improvement roadmap scoped to your institution’s specific needs, resource constraints, and risk profile. Both documents are designed to be presented to your senior leadership team or governing body.
Engagements are scoped individually to reflect the complexity and size of your institution.
| Service | Published Price |
|---|---|
| AI Governance Readiness Programme | Enquiry only |
Ongoing AI Governance Consultancy
AI governance is not a one-time project. The regulatory landscape is changing, new tools are being deployed, and the questions your Board and regulator will ask are evolving. Ongoing AI governance consultancy gives your institution access to senior, specialist expertise on a continuing basis.
Engagements are available on a day rate or monthly retainer basis.
| Service | Published Price |
|---|---|
| Day rate | £1,200 + VAT |
| Monthly retainer | From £1,500 + VAT |
AI Tool Due Diligence
Before deploying an AI tool across your institution, you need documented evidence that it meets your data protection obligations, handles personal data appropriately, and does not create unacceptable risk. That evidence matters to your DPO, your governing body, and potentially the ICO.
For schools and multi-academy trusts, AI tool due diligence has an additional dimension. Tools that process children’s data must be assessed against the Age Appropriate Design Code as well as UK GDPR. Many EdTech suppliers selling into schools and HEIs are not yet meeting that bar.
Clark & Company assesses AI tools and EdTech products against a structured due diligence framework and provides a clear, documented outcome. This service is available to institutions procuring tools and to EdTech suppliers who need to demonstrate compliance before entering the education market.
| Service | Published Price |
|---|---|
| Single tool assessment | £600 + VAT |
| Suite assessment (up to five tools) | £2,200 + VAT |
| Rolling due diligence retainer | From £500 per month + VAT |
AI Security Review
AI tools introduce a category of security risk that sits outside traditional cyber security frameworks. Prompt injection, data exfiltration through model outputs, shadow AI use by staff, and third-party model dependencies all create exposures that most institutions have not yet assessed.
Clark & Company conducts structured AI security reviews for education and public sector organisations, assessing the security risk profile of deployed and planned AI tools and returning a prioritised report of findings and recommended controls. Each review is scoped to the institution’s specific AI deployment before work begins.
| Service | Published Price |
|---|---|
| AI Security Review | From £600 + VAT, scoped on assessment |
AI Working Group Co-option
Understanding how AI governance is developing at a sector level requires more than reading policy documents. It requires direct access to the conversations happening in national working groups, regulatory consultations, and sector bodies.
Clark & Company offers a structured co-option model for institutions that want a named senior practitioner as a standing member of their internal AI working group. This brings external scrutiny, working insight from national sector activity, and independent challenge to the institution’s AI governance thinking on an ongoing basis.
Engagements are available on an annual subscription basis and are scoped individually to reflect the institution’s meeting cadence and working group remit.
| Service | Published Price |
|---|---|
| AI Working Group Co-option | Enquiry only |