Natural Resources Wales chief executive Emyr Roberts explained that, as with the now defunct Environment Agency Wales, the nature of their relationship with the board was principally around operational matters and not governance.

BBC: Magor Marsh. Pic: Rob Waller

Corporate governance regulates the relationship between shareholders, directors and managers to prevent conflicts of interest and to increase transparency.

BBC: Corporate governance report

"You have a much more diverse workforce today, and that kind of entertaining is viewed as nongermane to the client relationship, " said Charles Elson, Director, John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

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