Our relationship with the UK government

06 September 2012

A registered charity governed by Royal Charter

Our Royal Charter, granted in 1940, is our founding document and sets out the primary obligations relating to our legal status. We have a Board of Trustees that is responsible for ensuring that we follow charity legislation.

(a) promote cultural relationships and the understanding of different cultures between people and peoples of the UK and other countries;

(b) promote a wider knowledge of the UK;

(d) encourage cultural, scientific, technological and other educational co-operation between the UK and other countries;

(e) otherwise promote the advancement of education.

As a registered charity, the British Council is regulated by the Charity Commission (England and Wales) and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, and is subject to charity law of the four countries that make up the UK.

As a Royal Charter body, we are also designated as a Public Corporation, which gives us a number of freedoms and flexibilities to invest in and develop our paid-for services and contract businesses from any surpluses we earn in line with our charitable purposes.

Operationally independent

From time to time, in some countries, the British Council is treated with suspicion and assumed to be part of the UK government. This is not the case.
Although there are some specific issues on which the British Council must seek approval from UK government ministers, it has day–to-day operational independence from government.

British Council employees are public servants and are not government employees or part of the UK civil service.
Our grant-in-aid funding from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) is categorised by the UK Treasury as ‘unrestricted’. Expenditure is therefore guided by a published corporate plan, but remains at the operational discretion of the British Council.

Over 75% of the British Council’s turnover is earned through teaching and exams, tendered contracts and partnerships. Less than 25% is grant-in-aid.

The British Council’s Board of Trustees sets the organisation’s strategy, objectives, targets and priorities.

We work closely with all four UK governments

The British Council receives grant-in-aid funding from the FCO to deliver international opportunities and trust for the UK through English, the arts, education and society programmes.

Additionally, we operate on a contractual basis and in partnership with government departments, organisations and agencies of the devolved administrations to deliver their international cultural relations outcomes.

As a recipient of some UK government funding, the British Council is technically categorised by the UK government as an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB). In this respect we are similar to many UK museums, the national galleries and theatres and the British Library, which, like us, are also charities.

Our work for the UK requires us to have working relationships with all four UK governments, parliaments and assemblies and give an account of our impact and use of taxpayer funding to them.

- The Foreign Secretary is ultimately accountable to Parliament for the work of the British Council. We are therefore required to respond to parliamentary questions and are accountable to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

Facts

As for any charity board, the British Council’s Board of Trustees is accountable for the organisation’s assets, work and finances. It sets a strategy in line with the charitable objectives in the Royal Charter.

The Board of Trustees approves the corporate plan for the British Council. Strategy is discussed with the FCO at the planning stage and the corporate plan is agreed by ministers before being finally approved by the board.

The British Council sets its own professional standards and devises its own programmes in accordance with its Royal Charter and corporate plan.

As a Royal Charter body, the British Council is subject to oversight from the Privy Council.

We are working with overseas governments to make sure that our status is appropriate to our activity in our key markets, including setting up subsidiary entities where necessary.

Where it is legally appropriate, we operate overseas as a branch of the British Council UK charity. If that is not possible, we try to agree an alternative status with the host government. There are only two countries in the world where we operate with diplomatic status: China and India, as agreed with their governments.

We actively review opportunities to co-locate with FCO, the Department for International Development, UK Trade and Investment and other UK international organisations operating overseas. Where it is practical, affordable and in line with our purpose and mission, we will co-locate. We already share space in more than 30 places around the world. However, because of international conventions, we will not be able to share new space in countries where the activity is revenue-generating.

In the last financial year our grant-in-aid funding amounted to £190 million, 27% of our total income of £706 million. In line with the last UK government Comprehensive Spending Review, the British Council’s grant-in-aid will fall to £180m this year and to £159m in 2014/15.

If the British Council proposes to open or close operations in any country, it must seek the FCO’s prior approval.

Members of the Board of Trustees are recruited through open advertisement and elected by the board. The only exception is that the Foreign Secretary reserves the right to nominate one member of the board. This trustee has no special voting rights.

The Chair and Deputy Chair are elected by the Board of Trustees. However, the Foreign Secretary must pre-approve their appointment. They must also pre-approve the appointment of the Chief Executive. This is the same role the UK Culture Secretary plays for UK museums, national galleries and theatres and the British Library.