Dear Air Cadet Organisation,

The RAF Air Cadets are required to facilitate the management of non-public funds. Could you then please provide an explanation of the selection process adopted for:
a) membership of Civilian Committees and
b) Trustees of the related Charitable funds,

as the rules apply to Committees/Charities at:

1) Region
2) Wing
3) Squadron

Please also explain how the public is able to access any information about the use of these charitable funds, and when and what necessary steps the RAFAC have taken to ensure compliance with aspects of the Charities Act 2011 (as amended by the 2016 Act).

For the sake of clarity, appropriate referencing to Air Cadet Publications would be helpful.

Yours faithfully,

Chris Brown

Dear Air-DRes Sec-ParliBusiness (MULTIUSER),

I refer to the response to my enquiry.
I have to assume that, whilst you have referenced my previous receipt of a copy of ACP11, you will be aware that there has been later changes or amendments to that document. Whilst my copy clearly indicates consultation with the Charity Commission and OSCR, there is no indication of legal verification and therefore any recipient cannot assume this or any other copy, to be the final and definitive edition, especially where there are changes and there is no indication of consultation after 2014/5. Plus the fact that there are distinct exclusions from the consultation process.
One cannot then gain a satisfactory answer from the documentation, and effect any comparison between that ACO guidance and any other governance or guidance from the Charity Commission.
One helpful item was the provision of a copy of the Guide for Treasurers, in which is stated ‘Members of the Committee are the Trustees’, which is very much in line with Charity Commission statements, but there are some issues which appear to conflict with this.
One addition to ACP11 is the reference to a Squadron Association – this has been superimposed rather than integrated within the structure, and makes it very confusing for the lay person to understand how an Association, Committee and Trustees are supposed to work towards compliance with Charity Law. But Associations are not part of the process above Squadron level, and therefore the intention needs to be clear and does not lend itself to unqualified interpretation.
Therefore the entire point of the request was to ascertain from those who produced the working document, and which is purported to be compliant with Charity Law, the simple process by which the ACO determines to manage the Charitable funds.
Hence the requirement for specific reference to ACP11, in order to show how the process should actually work within the context of Charity law – after all you or the Organisation did set about changing the document to achieve compliance.
In the situation, other than to become legally qualified, it is reasonable to request clarification from the source, because there are inconsistencies which do not lend themselves to an easy understanding.
If the ACO, as the source of the management document, cannot explain how the systems works in plain English, the entire matter needs referral to the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Brown