Subject to sub-paragraph (3), the Board shall not be regarded as the servant or agent of the Crown or as enjoying any status, immunity or privilege of the Crown.

The trustees and their staff shall not be regarded as civil servants and the Board’s property shall not be regarded as property of, or held on behalf of, the Crown.

In relation to any matter as respects which the Board act by virtue of a direction under section 2(4), the Board shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities and exemptions as those enjoyed in relation to that matter by the Minister giving the direction.

Subject to F1the provisions of any enactment, the Board shall not be exempt from any tax, duty, rate, levy or other charge whatever (whether general or local).

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The Board shall consist of not less than 12 nor more than 20 members (referred to in this Part of this Schedule as “trustees”).

The trustees shall be appointed by the Prime Minister, who shall appoint one of them to be chairman.

In appointing any trustee, the Prime Minister shall have regard to the desirability of the person’s having knowledge or experience of art, craft, design, management, industrial relations, administration, or any other subject knowledge or experience of which would be of use to the Board in exercising their functions.

Subject to the following provisions of this paragraph, a trustee or chairman shall hold and vacate office in accordance with the terms of his appointment, but no trustee shall be appointed for a period of more than 5 years.

A chairman or trustee may resign his office by notice in writing addressed to the Prime Minister.

If a chairman ceases to be a trustee he shall also cease to be chairman.

A person who ceases to be a trustee, or ceases to be chairman, shall be eligible for re-appointment.

There shall be a Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum who shall be appointed by the Board with the approval of the Prime Minister.

The Director shall be responsible to the Board for the general exercise of the Board’s functions.

The Board may appoint such other employees as the Board think fit.

The Board shall pay to their employees such remuneration and allowances as the Board may determine.

The employees shall be appointed on such other terms and conditions as the Board may determine.

A determination under sub-paragraph (4) or (5) is ineffective unless made with the approval of the Secretary of State given with the Treasury’s consent.

Employment with the Board shall be included among the kinds of employment to which a scheme under section 1 of the M1Superannuation Act 1972 can apply, and accordingly in Schedule 1 to that Act (in which those kinds of employment are listed) “Victoria and Albert Museum” shall be inserted after “ Tate Gallery ”.

The Board shall make, not later than such date as the Secretary of State may determine, an offer of employment by the Board to each person employed immediately before that date in the civil service of the State for the purposes of the institution known as the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The terms of the offer shall be such that they are, taken as a whole, not less favourable to the person to whom the offer is made than the terms on which he is employed on the date on which the offer is made.

In determining whether the terms of the offer are more or less favourable to that person than those enjoyed by him on the date of the offer no account shall be taken of the fact that employment with the Board is not employment in the service of the Crown.

An offer made in pursuance of this paragraph shall not be revocable during the period of 3 months commencing with the date on which it is made.

Where a person becomes an employee of the Board in consequence of this paragraph, then, for the purposes of F3the Employment Rights Act 1996, his period of employment in the civil service of the State shall count as a period of employment by the Board and the change of employment shall not break the continuity of the period of employment.

Any dispute arising under this paragraph as to whether or not the terms of any employment offered by the Board are, taken as a whole, less favourable than those applying to a person’s employment in the civil service of the State shall be referred to and determined by an F4employment tribunal.

An F4employment tribunal shall not consider a complaint whereby a dispute mentioned in sub-paragraph (6) is referred to it unless the complaint is presented to the tribunal before the end of the period of 3 months beginning with the date of the offer of employment or within such further period as the tribunal considers reasonable in a case where it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the complaint to be presented before the end of the period of 3 months.

An appeal shall lie to the Employment Appeal Tribunal on a question of law arising from any decision of, or arising in proceedings before, an F4employment tribunal under this paragraph; and no appeal shall lie except to the Employment Appeal Tribunal from any decision of an F4employment tribunal under this paragraph.

The Board may regulate their own procedure (including, subject to sub-paragraph (7), quorum).

In doing so, they may make arrangements for any of their functions, other than the power to acquire or dispose of land, to be discharged by committees.

Any committee shall be appointed, and may be dissolved, by the Board.

A committee may include as members persons who are not trustees, but at least two of the members (including the committee’s chairman) must be trustees.

A committee shall act in accordance with such directions as the Board may make from time to time.

Anything done by a committee under the arrangements shall, if the arrangements so provide, have effect as if done by the Board.

The validity of any proceedings of the Board shall not be affected by any vacancy among the trustees or by any defect in the appointment of any trustee.

The fixing of the seal of the Board shall be authenticated by the signature of the chairman or of some other person authorised either generally or specially by the Board to act for that purpose.

A document purporting to be duly executed under the seal of the Board, or to be signed on the Board’s behalf, shall be received in evidence and, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be so executed or signed.

The Board shall make to the Secretary of State a report on the exercise of their functions since the last report was made or (in the case of the first) since the Board’s establishment.

The first report shall be made not later than the expiry of the period of 3 years (or such shorter period as the Secretary of State may direct) commencing with the day of the Board’s establishment.

Each subsequent report shall be made not later than 3 years (or such shorter period as the Secretary of State may direct) since the last was made.

Each report shall include a statement of action taken by the Board to enable disabled members of the public to use any services or facilities provided by the Board.

Each report shall include a statement of the total amount received by the Board by way of admission charges in the period covered by the report, and shall include information (in such detail as the Board think fit) about rates of, exemptions from and reductions in admission charges made by the Board.

The Secretary of State shall lay a copy of each report before each House of Parliament.