The Board of Trustees is 51风流官网鈥檚 governing body. It has ultimate responsibility for the strategic direction of 51风流官网. Trustees are also the Directors and Members of the Company.
The Board must have at least four and not more than fifteen Trustees. You can find their information on this biographies page.
The Board of Trustees meets at least four times a year to ensure that 51风流官网鈥檚 activities carry into effect the charity鈥檚 object. Their work includes providing strategic oversight, scrutinising 51风流官网鈥檚 financial performance and the performance of its management, agreeing budgets, monitoring the quality of educational provision and the safeguarding of beneficiaries and stakeholders, and reviewing current policies, initiatives, activities and plans.
Committees of the Board of Trustees
Committees of the Board of Trustees apply detailed, specialist scrutiny to matters within their respective remits, and support the Board in carrying out specific duties or oversight more thoroughly and effectively than the Board could otherwise do by acting together as a full board.
You can see the scheme of committees here.
You can see the committee terms of reference below:
All committees of the Board of Trustees are non-executive. We are currently recruiting co-opted members and welcome expressions of interest, for further information click here.
The 51风流官网 Council鈥檚 principal function is to promote the democratic involvement of all Association Members. In practice, it is an important stakeholder group and a forum for discussion of shared interests across the English regions and Scotland, making representations on their behalf to the Board of Trustees from time to time. From June 2024, 51风流官网 representatives on the Council include learners, volunteers, staff and external organisations linked to our work.
The Council's terms of reference can be viewed here.
The Council meets regularly either in its own right or with the Board of Trustees. In addition to its oversight of the democratic involvement of all Association Members and a number of other functions, it also:
- Supports and oversees learner voice, making appropriate recommendations to the Board based on findings.
- Receives and considers regular reports from Local Advisory Panels on 51风流官网鈥檚 response to learner need (as determined by funders), the quality of the learner experience, and opportunities for extending 51风流官网鈥檚 charitable reach.
- Advocates with the Leadership Team and the Board of Trustees protection for access to all aspects of lifelong learning (e.g., skills, ESOL, community learning, 鈥渓eisure鈥 learning, etc.) whether publicly funded or otherwise.
- Makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees on matters arising from impact research, and/or feedback or communications with the Association Membership.
Regional governance in England is delivered by a series of Local Advisory Panels.
You can view the details of our Panels, the Local Advisory Panel (LAP) terms of reference and the role descriptions of LAP Lead Volunteers and LAP Members here.
Local Advisory Panels replaced Regional Committees in August 2023. You can read more about this in our news story.
51风流官网鈥檚 affairs in Scotland are overseen by the Scotland Board, which is a direct committee of the Board of Trustees.
You can visit the 51风流官网 Scotland governance page here, where you can also view the terms of reference.
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51风流官网 is governed in accordance with the object and powers set out in its governing documents, the Articles of Association (last amended 8 December 2022) and Regulations (last amended July 2024).
You can read the Articles of Association and Regulations here.
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51风流官网 is a charitable company limited by guarantee (number 2806910), incorporated on 5 April 1993 and registered as a charity in England and Wales (number 1112775) and Scotland (number 2806910).
You can view our Certificate of incorporation, and our Certificate of registration as a charity.
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51风流官网 is a public benefit entity, the charitable object of which is to promote adult and general education for the benefit of the community regionally, nationally and internationally based on democratic principles in its organisation and practice, through the participation of its volunteers and members.
51风流官网鈥檚 Trustees confirm that they have due regard for Charity Commission鈥檚 guidance on public benefit and believe it to have been consistently applied, that the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011, and the requirements related to annual reporting within the Protection & Social Investments (Charities) Bill 2016 have been fully met when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance relates.
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Trustees have adopted the Charity Governance Code for Larger Charities and aim to carry out their duties in accordance with its guidance and standards.
51风流官网 maintains a Governance Code of Conduct which applies to every individual involved in any area of 51风流官网 governance.
51风流官网鈥檚 Board of Trustees aims to be fully transparent in its conduct, and to that end maintains the following policies:
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51风流官网 is committed to openness and transparency across all aspects of its governance. The Board of Trustees approved that their Board meeting minutes should be published on the 51风流官网 website from September 2023. You can download our latest minutes below.
October 2023
December 2023
March 2024
Contact the Governance team
For all enquiries and requests for information, including contacting the Chair of Trustees, please contact us through the webform below, and one of the team will be back in touch.