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12th Gateshead Scouts

Constitution & privacy policy

Constitution

Overview

The Group’s constitution is based on the model version set out in the Scout Association’s Policy Organisation and Rules and updates that follow.

A) Group Scout Council

The Group Scout Council is the electoral body, which supports Scouting in the Scout Group. It is the body to which the Group Executive Committee is accountable.

i. Membership of the Group Scout Council is open to:

  • Scouters;
  • Group Scout Active Support members (including the Group Scout
    Active Support Manager and Group Scout Active Support Co-ordinators – if appointed);
  • Colony, Pack and Troop Assistants ;
  • Skills Instructors;
  • Administrators;
  • Advisers;
  • Patrol Leaders;
  • all parents of Beaver Scouts, Cub Scouts and Scouts;
  • any other supporters including former Scouts and their parents who may be admitted by the Group Scout Leader, the Group
    Executive Committee or the Group Scout Council;
  • Explorer Scout Leaders (if stated in a Partnership Agreement);

ii. The District Commissioner and District Chair are ex-officio members of the Group Scout Council.

iii. Membership of the Group Scout Council ceases upon:

  • the resignation of the member;
  • the dissolution of the Council;
  • the termination of membership by Headquarters following a recommendation by the Group Executive Committee.

iv. The Group Scout Council must hold an Annual General Meeting within six months of the financial year end to:

  • receive and consider the Annual Report of the Group Executive Committee, including the annual statement of accounts;
  • approve the Group Scout Leader’s nomination of the Group Chair and nominated members of the Group Executive Committee;
  • elect a Group Secretary and Group Treasurer;
    elect certain members of the Group Executive Committee;
  • appoint an auditor or independent examiner or scrutineer as required.
B) The group executive committee

i.The Group Executive Committee exists to support the Group Scout Leader in meeting the responsibilities of their appointment. The Committee is responsible for:

  • the maintenance of the Group’s property and equipment;
  • the raising of funds and the administration of the Group’s finance;
  • the insurance of persons, property and equipment;
  • Group public occasions;
  • assisting with the recruitment of Leaders and other adult support.

ii. The Group Executive Committee consists of:

Ex-officio Members

  • The Group Chair;
  • The Group Secretary;
  • The Group Treasurer;
  • The Group Scout Leader;
  • The Assistant Group Scout Leader;
  • The Explorer Scout Leader (if stated in a Partnership Agreement and subject to that Explorer Scout Leader expressly indicating to the AGM (in writing or orally at the meeting) that they are willing to perform such a function);
  • All Section Leaders (i.e. individuals holding a Beaver Scout Leader, Cub Scout Leader or Scout Leader role) subject to that Section Leader expressly indicating to the AGM (in writing or orally at the meeting) that they are willing to perform such a function.

Nominated Members

  • persons nominated by the Group Scout Leader;
    the nominations must be approved at the Group Annual General Meeting;
  • the number of nominated members must not exceed the number of elected members.

Elected Members

  • persons elected at the Group Annual General Meeting;
  • these should normally be four to six in number;
  • the actual number must be the subject of a resolution by the Group Scout Council.

Co-opted Members

  • persons co-opted annually by the Group Executive Committee
  • the number of co-opted members must not exceed the number of elected members.

Right of Attendance

  • the District Commissioner and the District Chair have the right of attendance at meetings of the Group Executive Committee.

iii. Ideally, between the nominated members, elected members and co-opted members, the Group Executive should include a parent of at least one Member of each of the Sections in the Group.

iv. The Group Executive Committee may establish any sub-Committees that it deems necessary.

v. The Group Scout Leader and the Group Chair will be ex-officio members of any sub-Committee of the Group Executive Committee.

vi. Any fundraising committee must include at least two members of the Group Executive Committee, in addition to the ex-officio members. No Section Leader or Assistant Leader may serve on such a fundraising sub-Committee.

vii. A Scout Group is an educational charity. Members of the Group Executive Committee are the charity trustees of the Scout Group.

viii. Only persons aged 18 and over may be full voting members of the Group Executive Committee because of their status as charity trustees.

ix. Certain people are disqualified from being charity trustees by virtue of the Charities Acts.

x. Charity trustees are responsible for complying with all the legislation applicable to charities.

xi. The Scout Group as a registered as a charity in England and Wales is required to make an annual return to the Charity Commission.

C) The group scouter’s meeting

i. Membership of the Group Scouters’ Meeting consists of the Group Scout Leader as chair, all Section Leaders and Assistant Leaders and the Group Scout Active Support Manager. Explorer Scout Leaders may be included if stated in the partnership agreement.

ii. The role of the Group Scouters’ Meeting is to:

  • consider the well-being and development of each Member of the Group;
  • ensure the progress of each Member through the programme;
  • plan and co-ordinate all the Group’s activities;
  • to keep the Group Executive Committee advised of the financial and other resource requirements of the training programme.
D) Conduct of Meetings

i. Only members as defined above may vote in meetings of the Group Scout Council and the Group Executive Committee.

ii. Decisions are made by a majority of votes cast by those present at the meeting. In the event of an equal number of votes being cast on either side the chair does not have a casting vote and the matter is taken not to have been carried.

iii. The quorum for meetings is as follows:

(a) Group Scout Council – (10) one of whom must be the Group Scout Leader, Chair or member of the Executive Committee

(b) Executive Committee – (5) one of whom must be the Group Scout Leader, Chair, Secretary or Treasurer

(c) Sub-Committees of the Executive (a third of the membership of the sub-committee but no less than 3)

Governing documents

Like all Scout Groups, the 12th Gateshead group is governed by the original Scout Association Royal Charter granted on the 4th of January 1912, as amended by a supplemental charted dated 28th March 1949, as amended by a supplemental charted dated 18th February 1959, as amended by a supplemental charted dated 5th May 1967, as amended by a supplemental charted dated 19th July 1991.

Privacy Policy

Who we are

Our website address is: http://12thGatesheadScouts.org. This is the official website of the 12th Gateshead Scout Group charity number 1017268. We are committed to protecting your privacy.

Scouting is a membership organisation. When adults and young people apply to join the Group we collect and process personal data. This information provides emergency contact details and is also used to help ensure our programme is challenging yet inclusive.  We also record member’s progress through the Scout training and award schemes. Sometimes we may pass some of your data onto a third party – e.g. to process membership data, to allow online payment or to allow members and their family to attend an externally-run activity.

In these cases the use of your data is governed by that third party’s privacy notice:

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

As part of local Scouting, sensitive personal data (also known as special category data) is gathered, processed and transferred frequently.

We gather personal data about the members of the Group. This is supplied by you at the time of joining, as an adult volunteer or by or on behalf of a young person.

We process this data for the purposes of events, awards, and when members move on to the next section. We will ask you to keep it up to date.

The Group submits annual reviews of aggregated census data to The Scout Association to allow it to monitor growth of the movement and compliance with key policies.

We may use your data to help us manage health and safety or safeguarding incidents where data may need to be transferred to third parties for assistance and/or to comply with relevant legislation.

Contact forms

Where the Online Scout Manager collects information regarding individuals, we cannot take responsibility for the protection of data.

How you can check and update your data

At any time, adults members, parents and guardians can check and update the data we hold about you and any youth member(s) you care for on Online Scout Manager. Just contact the group scout leader.