Issue - items at meetings

The Tulk Fund for School Sports Facilities is governed by a Scheme dated 26 July 2006. The Objects of the Charity are set out at paragraph 4 of the Scheme: The object of the charity is to provide recreational facilities and advance education by providing or assisting in the provision or improvement of outdoor sports facilities (not including equipment) for County maintained secondary schools in Surrey.

The Tulk Fund is a registered charity (Reg. No. 312006)with an accumulated income of £335,950 (valuation as at 5 April 2016). Other than a historic agreement that £157,000 is to be spent on a project, income of £178,950 remains in the fund.

The Fund is governed by a Scheme that allows for the bequest to be used to fund projects at county maintained secondary schools. Academies were not in existence in Surrey when the original bequest was made nor when the 2006 Scheme was drawn up. A new Scheme would be needed, with amended objects, if the Fund were to be made available to all county maintained secondary schools and secondary academies in Surrey. A request to the Charity Commission for a new Scheme of this nature needs to be approved by Cabinet.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Education and Skills Board]

1. That an application to the Charity Commission for a new Scheme be drawn up and submitted which amends the Objects so both ‘county maintained secondary schools’ and ‘secondary academies’ can benefit from the funds available in the bequest.

2. That the the Director of Legal, Democratic and Cultural Services prepares amendments to the Scheme of Delegation and to the Constitution to reflect the changes arising from this report and submits them for approval by the Leader.

3. That the application to the Charity Commission for a new Scheme will include a provision to enable the Trustees to allocate the permanent endowment (£15,502) in future.

4. That, following Charity Commission advice, decisions relating to any final amendments to the Scheme be delegated to the Director for Children's Services (or alternative appropriate officer) in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement.

Reasons for Decisions:

Inclusion of secondary academies in the Scheme would mean that all state funded secondary schools in Surrey were once again in scope, as they were in 2006.

To ensure there are clear and proportionate governance arrangements in place to enable the effective administration of the Fund.

The remaining permanent endowment would most effectively be spent on future projects alongside the accumulated interest, as the value of the permanent endowment is insufficient to fund any significant project along or to generate any significant interest in the medium term.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Education and Skills Board].

The Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement informed the Cabinet that Surrey County Council managed a number of charitable funds and that the Tulk Fund for School Sports Facilities was a registered charity established in 1952.

She explained that object of the charity was to provide playing fields for secondary schools in Surreyand that over time the Fund had grown. She informed Members that any bequests had to be approved by the Cabinet and that the changes to the status of schools had not been taken into consideration so as a result an application for a new fund should be made to the Charity Commission.

RESOLVED: