Education Reform Act 1988

28 Procedure for reduction of standard number

(1) Where the authority responsible for determining the arrangements for the admission of pupils to any county or voluntary school intend to apply to the Secretary of State for an order under subsection (5) of section 27 of this Act reducing any standard number applying to the school under that section, they shall publish their proposals with respect to the reduction in such manner as may be required by regulations made by the Secretary of State and submit to him a copy of the published proposals together with their application.

(2) The published proposals shall be accompanied by a statement which explains the effect of—

(a) subsections (3) and (4) below, where the proposals are published by a local education authority; or

(b) subsection (5) below, where the proposals are published by the governing body of the school.

(3) In the case of proposals published by a local education authority, any of the following may, before the end of the period of two months beginning with the date of publication of the proposals, submit objections to the proposals to that authority—

(a) any ten or more local government electors for the area of that authority;

(b) the governing body of any school affected by the proposals; and

(c) any other local education authority concerned.

(4) A local education authority by whom any such proposals are published shall within one month after the end of the period allowed for objections under subsection (3) above transmit to the Secretary of State copies of all objections made (and not withdrawn in writing) in that period, together with their observations on the objections.

(5) In the case of proposals made by the governing body of a school, any of the following may, before the end of the period of two months beginning with the date of publication of the proposals, submit objections to the proposals to the Secretary of State—

(a) any ten or more local government electors for the area of the local education authority by whom the school is maintained;

(b) the governing body of any school affected by the proposals; and

(c) any local education authority concerned.

(6) Subject to subsection (7) below, where an application is made to the Secretary of State under this section for an order reducing any standard number applying to a school for any age group in any year, the Secretary of State may—

(a) refuse to make such an order;

(b) make an order reducing the standard number to the number proposed; or

(c) after consultation with both the local education authority and the governing body of the school, make an order reducing the standard number to such number (greater than the number proposed) as he thinks desirable.

(7) The Secretary of State shall not make an order reducing any standard number applying to a school for any age group in any year unless he is satisfied that the reduction is necessary, having regard to any reduction in the school’s capacity to accommodate pupils as compared with its capacity at the beginning of the school year to which the current standard number first applied in relation to that age group (whether in accordance with section 27 of this Act or section 15 of the 1980 Act).

(8) A local education authority shall not make an application under this section for an order reducing any standard number applying to a school without first consulting the governing body of the school; and the governing body of a school shall not make such an application without first consulting the local education authority.