Commentary on Sections Governance and management Section 157 – Meetings
1016.This section requires foundation trusts to hold an annual meeting of the trust’s membership. This meeting must be open to members of the public. Subsection (1) inserts a new paragraph 27A into Schedule 7, and gives the membership of a foundation trust a role in relation to considering the organisation’s annual report and accounts. This is intended to secure the accountability of governors and directors to the members and to promote transparency about the trust’s performance.
1017.Subsection (1) also provides that the membership of the trust, at the annual meeting, must be able to vote on constitutional amendments affecting the role of governors, similar to the scrutiny of other changes by governors.
1018.Subsection (2) clarifies that the existing requirement on the council of governors to hold a general meeting to consider the trust’s annual accounts and report in no way prevents the governors holding a general meeting more than once a year if they wish to do so. Subsection (3), inserting a new paragraph 28A, enables the trust, if it wishes, to combine the annual meeting held by the membership with a general meeting of the council of governors.