Board of Trustees

The Mersey Weaver Board of Trustees shapes and approves our local strategy.

The District Trustee Board plays a vital role in the running of a Scout District. Trustees make decisions and carry out administrative tasks to ensure that the resources are available so that the best quality Scouting can be delivered in the District.

The Group Trustee Board is responsible for the governance of the charity. Although the Group Trustee Board is responsible for the charity, it is accountable to the Group Scout Council.

Good governance focusses on oversight and strategy and maintains focus on supporting and assuring the organisation’s strategic goals.

The Group Trustee Board is a team of volunteers who work together, as charity Trustees, to make sure the Scouts is run safely and legally. At the heart of their role is a focus on strategy, performance and assurance.

Trustees must collectively:

ensure that the Group is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit
comply with the Group’s governing document and the law
act in the Group’s best interests
manage the Group’s resources responsibly
act with reasonable care and skill

This includes:

develop and maintain a risk register, including putting in place appropriate mitigations
the maintenance of the Group’s property and equipment
ensure that the Group’s finances are properly managed, including development and maintenance of appropriate budgets to support the work of the Group
the insurance of persons, property and equipment
ensure that effective administration is in place to support the work of the Group Trustee Board
take responsibility for the Group’s adherence to Data Protection Legislation recognising that, dependent on circumstances, it will at different times act as a Data Controller and as a Data Processor
put in place annually an open and transparent selection process to recommend to the Group Scout Council appropriate members to be appointed members of the Group Trustee Board, including Chair and Treasurer.

Members of the Board of Trustees

The District Trustee Board comprises a maximum of 12 Trustees (the total of all ex officio, appointed and co-opted Trustee Categories), with a minimum of five Trustees The maximum number of Trustees is agreed by the District Scout Council at our AGM.

Each ex officio, appointed and co-opted member of the Group Trustee Board is a charity Trustee of the Group.

The Group Executive consists of some people who are members because of their role in Scouting (the ex-officio members), these are:

District Lead Volunteer
District Youth Lead

In addition to the ex-officio members, there are two other groups of people who may be trustees of the Group:

appointed members – these are appointed by the Group Council at the Annual General Meeting. This should follow a selection process initiated and overseen by the Group Trustee Board. There are normally eight (8) of them;
co-opted members – these are co-opted annually by the Group Trustee Board and there must be no more than the number of appointed trustees (excluding chair and treasurer). Normally a maximum of two (2).

The membership is set up this way to ensure that the interests of the District Scout Council and the District Lead Volunteers are represented, and balanced. The co-opted members are often used to bring particular skills into the Trustee Board, perhaps because of a particular project that is being undertaken or task that is being tackled.

All members (ex-officio, appointed and co-opted) are Charity Trustees of Mersey Weaver District Scout Council which is registered as a non-profit making charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. The current Trustees are:

Oliver Chambers

Ex-officio Member

District Lead Volunteer, Member of the Finance Committee, Appointments Panel

Contact Oliver