Conditions of payment
23.—(1) Any reimbursement under these Regulations shall be subject to the condition that the Scottish Ministers shall be satisfied that the participating school, to which such reimbursement is made, shall comply or shall have complied with the requirements specified in these Regulations.
(2) If the Scottish Ministers are satisfied that a participating school has failed to observe any of the conditions or requirements specified in these Regulations in relation to any school year, they may–
(a)refuse to make payment in whole or in part of any claim falling to be paid to that school in respect of that year in accordance with the Regulations; or
(b)withhold payment of such claim or such part thereof as they consider appropriate for such period or periods as they consider appropriate,
and, where a reimbursement claim has been paid to such a school in advance of the Scottish Ministers being so satisfied, the Scottish Ministers shall be entitled to recover from the school such sum as they consider appropriate, being a sum equal to the whole or such part of the payment made in respect of such claim as they think expedient, and, without prejudice to any other method of recovery available to them, they may deduct such sum from the amount of any other reimbursement claim falling to be paid to that school in accordance with these Regulations.