Education (Scotland) Act 1996

SCHEDULE 4[Section 31.] Amendment of the School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988

1 The [1988 c. 47.] School Boards (Scotland) Act 1988 shall be amended as follows.

2 In section 2 (composition of Boards)—

(a) in subsection (1) at the end there shall be added the words “; and the number prescribed for the purposes of paragraph (a) above shall include not more than two co-opted parent members co-opted under section 2B(3) of this Act”;

(b) in subsection (2) after the words “members” there shall be inserted the words “(including co-opted parent members)”; and

(c) in subsection (13) for the words “the headteacher” there shall be substituted the words “—

(a) the headteacher; and

(b) any teacher who is so employed at more than one school if he is so employed at that school for less than 40% of the normal hours of work of a full-time teacher.”

3 In section 5 (advice to Boards)—

(a) in subsection (2) for the words “the electoral ward in which the school is situated” there shall be substituted the words “any electoral ward which falls wholly or partly within the catchment area of the school”; and

(b) after subsection (6) there shall be added the following subsection—

“(7) In subsection (2) above “catchment area” means the area from which pupils resident therein will be admitted to the school in terms of any priority based on residence in accordance with the guidelines formulated by the authority under section 28B(1)(c) of the 1980 Act.”

4 In section 6 (proceedings)—

(a) in subsection (3) for the words from “which” to “Board” in the third place where it occurs there shall be substituted the words “whose membership shall include at least one member of the Board”; and

(b) in subsection (6) for the words “their members” there shall be substituted the words “the total number of members prescribed under section 2 of this Act”.

5 In section 13, in subsection (1)(b) before the word “election” there shall be inserted the word “regular”.

6 After section 17 (financing of Boards) there shall be inserted the following section—

“17A Surplus funds

Where, at the end of the financial year, the total amount of monies made available to a School Board under subsection (2) of section 17 of this Act is less than the amount determined under subsection (1) of that section, the education authority shall make available to the School Board the amount by which the total amount of monies so made available is less than the amount so determined to be applied by the Board at their discretion, taking account of the views of the headteacher, at such time as they think fit for the benefit of the school.”

7 In section 20 (non-establishment and disestablishment of Boards)—

(a) in subsection (5)—

(i) for the words “any election under section 2 of this Act” there shall be substituted the words “a regular election”;

(ii) for the words “that section” there shall be substituted the words “section 2 of this Act”; and

(iii) for the words “as soon as practicable” there shall be substituted the words “not later than three months after that election”;

(b) for subsection (6) there shall be substituted the following subsection—

“(6) Where a by-election is required to be held under subsection (5) above or subsection (5) of section 2A of this Act and—

(a) no person is elected as a parent member; and

(b) no person is co-opted in pursuance of section 2B(3) of this Act,

the School Board shall not be established or, in the case of a Board which has been established, it shall be disestablished.”

(c) in subsection (7) for paragraph (b) there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“(b) in any event, at the time required by section 2A(1) of this Act.”

8 In section 22 (interpretation), in subsection (2) at the appropriate places there shall be inserted the following definitions—

““co-opted parent member” has the meaning given in section 2B(3) of this Act;”;

““regular election” has the meaning given in section 2A(1) of this Act;”;

““regular election period” has the meaning given in section 2A(10) of this Act;”;

““relevant year” has the meaning given in section 2A(10) of this Act;”.

9 In Schedule 2 (appointment of headteachers, deputies and assistants)—

(a) in paragraph 2 after the word “staff” there shall be inserted the words “(whether teaching or not)”;

(b) in paragraph 3 the words from “(other than” to “or sit)” shall cease to have effect;

(c) after paragraph 4 there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

“4A (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2) below, any reference in paragraphs 2 to 4 above to the headteacher of a school shall include a reference to any person appointed to act for the time being as the headteacher of that school if that person is not, himself, a candidate for the post.

(2) Where an education authority has reasonable grounds for considering a person acting as headteacher would not be a suitable person to be a member of and chair a committee under this Schedule, the authority may exclude him from so acting.

4B Where it appears to an education authority that an appointment committee cannot be constituted as mentioned in paragraphs 2 to 4A above, the authority may, after consultation with the Board, constitute an appointment committee made up of equal numbers of persons nominated by the authority and the Board with such other person as appears to the authority to be suitable as chairman.”;

(d) after paragraph 5 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“Conflict of interest

5A (1) Subject to sub-paragraph (2) below, where, whether before or during any meeting of the appointment committee, any member of the appointment committee becomes aware that he or any person connected with him has (whether directly or indirectly) a material interest in or relating to any matter to be or being considered by the appointment committee, he shall declare such interest and withdraw from the meeting during such consideration and shall not vote on any question relating to the matter.

(2) Nothing in sub-paragraph (1) above shall—

(a) require a member of the appointment committee to declare an interest or withdraw; or

(b) prohibit him from voting,

in relation to any matter where his interest exists by reason only of his being the headteacher of the school or a parent of a pupil in attendance at the school.

(3) Section 346(2) of the [1985 c. 6.] Companies Act 1985 (meaning of “connected person”) shall apply for the purpose of determining whether a person is connected with a member of the appointment committee as it applies for the purpose of determining whether a person is connected with a director of a company; and for such purpose references in that section to a director of a company shall be construed as if they were references to such a member.

(4) The validity of any proceedings of the appointment committee shall not be affected by any failure to comply with this paragraph.”;

(e) for paragraphs 7 and 8 there shall be substituted the following paragraphs—

“7 Where there are fewer than 4 applicants who are eligible for the post the education authority may—

(a) subject to paragraph 12 below, omit the name of any candidate whom they consider to be unsuitable; or

(b) re-advertise the post.

8 Nothing in paragraph 7 above shall authorise the education authority to reduce the leet to fewer than 2 names.”;

(f) in paragraph 10 for the words from “the applicants” to the end there shall be substituted the words “all applicants for the post who are eligible for it (as mentioned in paragraph 6 above) as the authority have in their possession or can readily obtain”;

(g) in paragraph 12 for the words from “make” to the end there shall be substituted the words “delete any name from the leet but may add to it the name of any applicant who is eligible for the post as mentioned in paragraph 6 above, including any applicant whose name has been omitted from the leet by the education authority under paragraph 7 above if the Board consider him suitable for the post”.