The Magna Carta Trust (MCT) contained senior representatives from significant bodies including the judiciary, church, various district/borough councils, the English Speaking Union, The Pilgrims of Great Britain and The Royal Empire Society.  Given the significance of the Magna Carta to Runnymede, Runnymede Borough Council had been an active member of the MCT, and had provided its Honorary Treasurer, Honorary Secretary, and administrative support to the MCT’s 1-2 meetings per year.  The serving Mayor of Runnymede had been a Trustee.

Discussions about the MCT converting to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) had been ongoing since soon after the Magna Carta’s 800^th anniversary in 2015, and after a lengthy application process the Charity Commission had approved the application to CIO status in December 2021.  At the MCT’s most recent meeting in February 2022, the Trustees had resolved to both formally disestablish the Magna Carta Trust in favour of the Magna Carta Trust CIO, and transfer its assets to the new CIO. The new MCT ICO had asked the Council to decide whether it would wish to put forward an individual as a trustee to serve on the MCT ICO.  The MCT ICO would then decide whether or not that individual would become a Trustee of the MCT ICO.  The direction of the Committee was sought to establish whether Runnymede should seek to identify, in principle, a person who would wish to become a trustee, or whether to fulfil a more informal role within the Trust, such as an associate organisation or ambassador. 

            Historically Runnymede’s trustee on the MCT had been the incumbent Mayor which meant that they were a trustee only for the year of their Mayoralty.  This was by virtue of the fact that in order to be a trustee a person had to hold what was termed a qualifying office.    However, a significant change to the set up of the CIO would mean that trustees would be appointed on their own merits on a three or four year term rather than because of the qualifying office they held.

            Given the significance of the Magna Carta to the whole borough, if the Committee decided to identify a person who could be approached to be a trustee it could be any Councillor, or a resident of Runnymede or someone from the local community who had a strong interest in Magna Carta. Should Runnymede decide to identify a person to approach to be a trustee, that individual’s responsibilities would be exclusively to serve the interests of the MCT.  They would not be the Council’s spokesperson or representative but would use their judgement in the best interest of the MCT.  The Council could not instruct them to take a particular stance on a matter.  A trustee of the new MCT ICO would be a person who was interested in the work of the charity and committed to its work.  The Committee asked about the personal liability of a Trustee of the new MCT ICO.  It was noted that it was envisaged that the ICO would take out insurance exempting their trustees from personal liability for the actions of those trustees except in the case where those actions were criminal.

            Clarification was being sought from the preliminary trustees of the MCT CIO to establish what the costs of various types of membership would be and the extent of involvement of Runnymede officers in the new MCT ICO.

            The Committee indicated that it would like to be able to put forward an individual to serve as a Trustee and also to become an associate or ambassadorial member of the Trust.  This was because the Trustee would be serving the interests of the MCT whereas it was understood that the associate or ambassadorial member position would be serving the interests of the Council.  However, the Committee was advised that the MCT CIO had given the Council the option of either putting forward a person to become a Trustee or taking up an ambassadorial or associate position.

            The Committee agreed to defer a decision on this item and agreed that a further report would be submitted to the Committee with further information about the ambassadorial member and associate member roles.