The Deregulation (Provision of School Action Plans) Order 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends sections 17 and 21 of the School Inspections Act 1996 so as to reduce a burden on the appropriate authority for a school to take reasonably practicable steps to secure that every parent of a pupil at the school receives a copy of the authority’s statement of action following an inspection of the school under that Act. The Act consolidates provisions of the Education (Schools) Act 1992 and Part V of the Education Act 1993. The provisions of the 1996 Act amended by this Order re-enact section 210(6)(c) of the 1993 Act and paragraph 10(5) of Schedule 2 to the Education (Schools) Act 1992 (as amended by the 1993 Act).

By virtue of section 17(1) of the 1996 Act the governing bodies of county, voluntary and maintained special schools which have delegated budgets and the governing bodies of grant-maintained and grant-maintained special schools are required to prepare a statement of action which they propose to take in the light of either any report of an inspection of the school by a registered inspector under section 10 of that Act or a report of an inspection of the school by OFSTED (or in Wales, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector) which states that special measures are required in relation to the school. In the case of a county, voluntary or maintained special school without a delegated budget this duty falls on the local education authority. Under section 17(6)(c) the appropriate authority is required to take reasonably practicable steps to secure that every parent of a registered pupil at the school receives a copy of the statement of proposed action as soon as is reasonably practicable. The Order amends section 17 by inserting a new subsection (6A). This provides that the appropriate authority may satisfy the duty in section 17(6)(c) by taking such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that such parents receive a copy of a summary of the statement. The summary must state that a parent has the right to ask for a copy of the statement of proposed action.

Similar changes are made to section 21 of the 1996 Act in respect of other schools.