Academy trust “failed to provide parents with full set of trust board meeting minutes”, as required by its constitution

An academy trust appears not to have provided full sets of minutes of its board meetings to parents when asked, even though doing so on request is part of the constitution under which it operates.

In common with – as far as I can see* - many academy trusts, the Maritime Academy Trust, based in Greenwich, south-east London, is subject to a clause in its articles of association seemingly requiring it to present meeting minutes, agendas and background papers if a member of the public asks.

The clause states: “The Trustees shall ensure that a copy of

1. the agenda for every meeting of the Trustees;
2. the draft minutes of every such meeting, if they have been approved by the person acting as chairman of that meeting;
3. the signed minutes of every such meeting; and
4. any report, document or other paper considered at any such meeting,

are, as soon as is reasonably practicable, made available at every Academy to persons wishing to inspect them.”

The clause is followed by caveats: names of staff and pupils are allowed to be redacted, plus there is a seemingly catch-out get-out provision allowing the redacting of “any matter which, by reason of its nature, the Trustees [note the capital “T”] are satisfied should remain confidential.”