A streamlined structure designed to achieve the optimum relationship between trusteeship (a Board of Trustees) and representation of the wider interests of the nation for whose benefit the Trust exists (the Council):
Board of Trustees and the Council
There is:
- a small Board of Trustees which is responsible for the running of the charity and for making sure that the organisation works as well as possible to deliver its core purposes. The majority of the Board of Trustees are Council members.
- a strong, representative Council which appoints the trustees and makes sure they discharge their responsibilities properly. The Council is made up of 52 members: 26 elected by the members of the National Trust and 26 appointed by organisations whose interests coincide in some way with those of the National Trust.
It is this mix of elected and appointed members that ensures that the Trust takes full account of the wider interests of the nation, for whose benefit it exists. The breadth of experience and perspective which this brings also enables the Council to fulfil its role of holding the Board of Trustees to account and to act as the Trust’s conscience in delivering its statutory purposes.
The combination of a representative body and a trustee body working together provides both the strength and necessary challenge to ensure that the Trust delivers its core purpose and works efficiently and effectively as a charity and a large and complex business.
Country and Regional Committees
Members of Country and Regional Committees provide advice and support to staff in the English regions and Wales and Northern Ireland and to the Board of Trustees and are ambassadors for the Trust.
Advisory Panels
Advisory Panels provide top-quality, independent advice to the staff of the Trust and to the Board of Trustees.
Committees of the Board of Trustees
The Board of Trustees has three committees which assist it with particular aspects of its responsibilities:
- The Audit Committee reviews the Trust’s financial and risk controls and the Trust’s Annual Financial Statements and advises the Board on these.
- The Remuneration Committee agrees the remuneration and terms of employment of the Director-General and other senior members of staff, and reviews the Trust’s management succession plan.
- The Appointments Committee makes recommendations to the Board on the appointment of chairmen of Country and Regional Committees, chairmen of the expert Panels and members and chairmen of the Committees of the Board of Trustees.
Committees of the Council
The Council appoints a Nominations Committee to interview candidates for the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, candidates for the Board of Trustees and candidates in the elections to the Council.
There are also Nominations Committees to oversee the six yearly review of the list of 26 bodies that appoint members of the Council and to interview and appoint the independent members to serve on the various Nominations Committees.
A more open approach to appointments to governance posts in the Trust: an organisation open to people from every background
New procedures for the election and appointment of members of the various bodies have been introduced to make sure that the structure is, and is seen to be, consistent, open, fair and robust.
There is outside involvement through external, independent members on the nominations and appointments committees.
All appointments to governance posts in the Trust are for terms of three years and the norm would be to serve for two or three terms. External members will be appointed for up to five years to ensure their independence.
There is a formal, publicly available register of interests for the members of the Board of Trustees. Members of the Council, Country and Regional Committees and Advisory Panels are also required to declare any conflicts of interests.
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