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QUEENS OWN ROYAL WEST KENT REGIMENT MUSEUM COMMITTEE

27 January 2022

 

Future Meetings of the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum Trust

 

Final Decision-Maker

Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum Trust

Lead Head of Service

John Foster, Head of Regeneration and Economic Development

Lead Officer and Report Author

Victoria Barlow, Museums Director

Classification

Public

 

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

The current quarterly meeting schedule for the Trustees of QORWKRMT has become more than is needed for the good running of the Trust and thus officers have reviewed the purpose and frequency of meetings whilst still meeting the legal and moral obligations towards the collections of the Trust and to residents of the borough.

Purpose of Report

 

To ask members to decide on the regularity of trust board meetings.

 

 

This report makes the following recommendations to this Committee:

1.   That meetings of the board are reduced to one meeting per year

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum Trust Committee

27 January 2022



Future Meetings of the Queens Own Royal West Kent Regiment Museum Trust

 

1.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

The four Strategic Plan objectives are:

 

·         Embracing Growth and Enabling Infrastructure

·         Safe, Clean and Green

·         Homes and Communities

·         A Thriving Place

·         We do not expect the recommendations will by themselves materially affect achievement of corporate priorities.  However, they will support the Council’s overall achievement of its aims as set out in section 3.

John Foster, Head of Regeneration and Economic Development

Cross Cutting Objectives

The four cross-cutting objectives are:

 

·         Heritage is Respected

·         Health Inequalities are Addressed and Reduced

·         Deprivation and Social Mobility is Improved

·         Biodiversity and Environmental Sustainability is respected

 

The report recommendation(s) supports the achievement(s) of the Heritage is respected cross cutting objectives by supporting the development of the museum and associated Trusts.

 

John Foster, Head of Regeneration and Economic Development

Risk Management

Already covered in the risk section – if your risk section is more than just a paragraph in this box then you can state ‘refer to paragraph … of the report’

 

John Foster, Head of Regeneration and Economic Development

Financial

Given the low level of financial activity one meeting per year would be sufficient and would be needed primarily to approve the annual accounts.

 Paul Holland, Senior Finance Manager (Client)

Staffing

We will deliver the recommendations with our current staffing.

 

John Foster, Head of Regeneration and Economic Development

Legal

The Trust is covered by its own governance document, a Charity Commission Scheme dated 12 March 2007. The recommendations are in line with that Scheme and with the requirements of the Charity Commission.

 

Victoria Barlow, Museums Director

Privacy and Data Protection

Accepting the recommendations will increase the volume of data held by the Council.  We will hold that data in line with our retention schedules.

 

Policy and Information Team

Equalities

The recommendations do not propose a change in service therefore will not require an equalities impact assessment

Victoria Barlow, Museums Director

Public Health

 

 

We recognise that the recommendations will not negatively impact on population health or that of individuals.

 

Victoria Barlow, Museums Director

Crime and Disorder

The recommendation will have no negative impact on Crime and Disorder.

 

Victoria Barlow, Museums Director

Procurement

No procurement is required

Victoria Barlow, Museums Director

Biodiversity and Climate Change

The implications of this report on biodiversity and climate change have been considered and are;

·         There are no implications on biodiversity and climate change.

 

Victoria Barlow, Museums Director

 

 

 

 

2.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

2.1     At a meeting of trustees on 29th July 2017, it was agreed that the museum should go ahead with the transfer of museum collections from the Trust to Maidstone Borough Council and the dissolution of the Queen’s Own West Kent Regiment Museum Trust (QOWKRMT).

 

2.2     However, on taking advice from the council’s legal advisors, it became clear that the original terms of the Trust’s founding made it clear that the collection could only be transferred to an independent museum ie. not the Local Authority. This made the decision taken in 2017 invalid since the trust did not desire the removal of important local collections from the museum.

 

2.3     The collections of QOWKRMT have been budgeted for, managed and curated by museum staff since the founding of the Trust alongside the museum’s own collections since the founding of the Queen’s Own Museum within Maidstone Museum. This will continue under the museum’s 20 Year Plan.

 

2.4     Although, staff continue to manage and curate the collection and, thanks to the hard work of a volunteer, provide a public enquiry service for QORWKMT, the income from the endowment is low and the Trusts ability to use it to influence what the Trust can do with their collection is very limited. It is proposed that in addition to the annual rent paid on the Trust’s gallery, any amount of income from the endowment, is transferred to the museum to support the work on collections. This would help to support items such as volunteer expenses, storage materials or conservation.

 

2.5     Since 2020, only one meeting of Trustees was possible due to Covid restrictions although all requirements of the Charity Commission and Museum Accreditation have been met during that time. In future, it is to be questioned whether the levels of trust activity necessitate the quarterly meetings of the board which previously took place.

 

 

 

3.   AVAILABLE OPTIONS

 

3.1     Maintain the Status Quo from before Covid restrictions were put in place.

 

3.2     Reduce the number of meetings to one per year where members will receive the Collections Manager and Finance Manager’s reports for that year.

 

3.3     That any income from the Trust Endowment, over and above that already paid for the rent on the gallery, is transferred to the museum on an annual basis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

 

4.1     The preferred option is that meetings be reduced in number to one a year.

 

4.2     This option would not preclude the possibility of calling extraordinary meetings should events require it. This would be likely, for example, when the museum transformation project reaches the stage where the QORWKMT gallery is in line for refurbishment. This reduces the risk that members become estranged from the affairs of the Trust.

 

4.3     The risk conferred by 3.1 is that it will require Members and Officers to meet when there are no genuine items of discussion to form an agenda thus wasting the time of already busy members

 

5.       RISK

 

5.1    The risks associated with this proposal, including the risks if the Council does not act as recommended, have been considered in line with the Council’s Risk Management Framework. [That consideration is shown in this report at 4] We are satisfied that the risks associated are within the Council’s risk appetite and will be managed as per the Policy.

 

 

6.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

6.1     If the proposal is accepted, no further action is required except to schedule the future meetings.