The Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) Regulations 1998

Citation and commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 1st April 1998.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to local education authorities in England.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 1989 Act” means the Local Government and Housing Act 1989(1);

“the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 1996;

“the 1995 Order” means the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 1) (England) Order 1995(2);

“annual review meeting” means a meeting to review a statement of special educational needs such as is referred to in regulations 15(5), 16(3) and 17(3) of the Education (Special Educational Needs) Regulations 1994(3);

“approved expenditure” means any expenditure which is approved as provided in regulation 3 below;

“baseline assessment scheme” has the meaning given to it in section 15 of the Education Act 1997(4);

“basic curriculum” has the meaning given to it in section 352 of the 1996 Act;

“classroom assistant” means an employee of an education authority or of the governing body of a school who is normally present in a classroom with a teacher and who assists the teacher;

“core subjects” has the meaning given to it in section 354 of the 1996 Act;

“determine” means determine by notice in writing;

“early excellence centre” means an institution for providing education and other services for children under compulsory school age (whether or not it also provides such services for other persons) participating in the Department for Education and Employment’s pilot programme for early excellence centres;

“early years development partnership” means a body established by an education authority to work with the education authority to review the sufficiency of the provision of good quality nursery education and care in the education authority’s area and to prepare an early years development plan;

“early years development plan” means a statement prepared by an education authority in conjunction with the early years development partnership of their proposals for the provision of good quality nursery education and care for children in their area;

“education authority” means a local education authority;

“family literacy programmes” means programmes which enable parents to improve their own literacy skills whilst helping their children to read and write;

“infant class” means a class containing pupils the majority of whom will attain the age of five, six or seven during the course of the school year;

“key skills qualification” means a qualification accredited as such by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority under section 24(2)(g) of the Education Act 1997;

“key stage 1” means the first key stage referred to in section 355(1)(a) of the 1996 Act;

“key stage 2” means the second key stage referred to in section 355(1)(b) of the 1996 Act;

“key stage 3” means the third key stage referred to in section 355(1)(c) of the 1996 Act;

“maintained school” means a school maintained by an education authority;

“National Grid for Learning” means a system of inter-connecting networks and education services based on the internet which is designed to support teaching, learning, training and administration in schools, the wider education service, and the community;

“non-maintained special school” means a special school which is neither a maintained special school nor a grant-maintained special school;

“nursery education” has the meaning given to it in section 1(2) of the Nursery Education and Grant-Maintained Schools Act 1996(5);

“prescribed expenditure” means

(a)

expenditure by an education authority for or in connection with any of the purposes specified in paragraphs 1-18, 19(a) or 20-24 of the Schedule; or

(b)

expenditure by an education authority which satisfies the conditions specified in paragraph (2) below for or in connection with the purpose specified in paragraph 19(b) of the Schedule;

“relevant lender” has the meaning given to it in regulation 65(1) of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance) Regulations 1997(6);

“specialist school” means a maintained school which specialises in—

(a)

mathematics, science and technology;

(b)

modern foreign languages;

(c)

the fine arts and performing arts; or

(d)

sport;

“standard task assessment” has the meaning given to it in article 5 of the 1995 Order;

“standards fund grant” means a grant under these Regulations;

“statement of special educational needs” has the meaning given to it in section 324 of the 1996 Act;

“study support centre” means a centre providing an out of school hours learning programme aimed at raising standards in literacy and numeracy;

“summer literacy school” means a scheme taking place during the summer holidays which aims to raise standards of literacy in pupils who are about to join secondary school;

“teacher” means a person who by virtue of regulations(7) relating to the employment of teachers from time to time in force under section 218 of the Education Reform Act 1988(8) is qualified to be employed as a teacher at a school of the kind described in subsection (12) of that section; and

“youth and community worker” means a person employed or working in a voluntary capacity in connection with the provision of facilities of a kind mentioned in sections 2(3)(b) or 508 of the 1996 Act other than a person undertaking duties that are solely administrative, secretarial, clerical or manual.

(2) The conditions referred to in sub-paragraph (b) of the definition of “prescribed expenditure” in paragraph (1) above are that on 1st April 1998 the education authority—

(a) has a credit ceiling, as determined under Part III of Schedule 3 to the 1989 Act which was nil or a negative amount; and

(b) had no money outstanding by way of borrowing other than—

(i) short-term borrowing (within the meaning of section 45(6) of the 1989 Act); or

(ii) borrowing undertaken before 24th August 1995, other than borrowing by the issue of stock on or after 15th December 1993 from a person who is not a relevant lender.

Expenditure in respect of which standards fund grants are payable

3.  Standards fund grants shall only be payable in respect of prescribed expenditure incurred or to be incurred in a financial year to the extent to which that expenditure is approved for that year by the Secretary of State for the purposes of these Regulations.

Standards fund grants in respect of payments to third parties

4.  Where—

(a) an education authority incurs expenditure in making payments, whether by way of maintenance, assistance or otherwise, to any other body or persons (including another education authority) who incur expenditure for or in connection with educational purposes, and

(b) that expenditure of the recipient of the payments or any part thereof would be prescribed expenditure if it were expenditure of the authority,

such payments shall to that extent be treated as prescribed expenditure for the purposes of these Regulations.

Rate of standards fund grant

5.—(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) below, standards fund grants in respect of approved expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 1998 shall be payable at the rate of 50 per cent. of such expenditure.

(2) Standards fund grants in respect of approved expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 1998 in respect of items referred to in the paragraphs of the Schedule listed in the left hand column of the table below shall be payable at the percentage rate of such expenditure specified in relation thereto in the right hand column of the table.

TABLE

Paragraph in Schedule	Rate (%)
2a	100
5	100
18	75
19	100
20	80
22	100
23	100
24	100

Conditions for payment of standards fund grant

6.—(1) No payment of standards fund grant shall be made except in response to an application in writing from an education authority to the Secretary of State, authenticated by the officer of the authority responsible for the administration of their financial affairs or his deputy.

(2) Applications for the payment of standards fund grant which relate to expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 1998 shall relate to expenditure over one or more of the periods specified in paragraph (3) below and shall specify the approved expenditure in respect of which grant is applied for which has been or which it is estimated will be incurred by the education authority during each such period.

(3) The periods referred to in paragraphs (2), (4) and (6) of this regulation are—

(a) 1st April to 31st July;

(b) 1st August to 31st December;

(c) 1st January to 31st March.

(4) Where an application relating to approved expenditure which has been or which it is estimated will be incurred during the period commencing on 1st January in any year is submitted under paragraph (1) above, such payment as the Secretary of State may determine may be made forthwith, but no further payment of standards fund grant shall be made in respect of that expenditure until a statement has been submitted in accordance with paragraph (5)(a) below.

(5) Each education authority that has received or seeks to receive a payment of standards fund grant in respect of expenditure incurred during any financial year shall, before 31st July in the following financial year or as soon as practicable after that date—

(a) submit to the Secretary of State a statement which shall specify the approved expenditure in respect of which standards fund grant has been or is being applied for which has been incurred by the education authority during that year; and

(b) secure the submission to the Secretary of State of a certificate signed by the auditor appointed by the Audit Commission for Local Authorities and the National Health Service in England and Wales to audit the accounts of the authority or any auditor qualified for such appointment by virtue of section 13(5), (5A) and (6) of the Local Government Finance Act 1982(9) certifying that in his opinion the particulars stated in the statement submitted by the authority pursuant to this paragraph are fairly stated and that the expenditure incurred was approved for the purposes of section 484 of the 1996 Act.

(6) No payment of standards fund grant shall be made in respect of expenditure incurred by an education authority in the period beginning on 1st August in any year or any subsequent period if standards fund grant was paid to the authority in respect of expenditure in the previous financial year but the Secretary of State has not yet received the auditor’s certificate referred to in paragraph 5(b) above for that year.

(7) Any under-payment or over-payment of standards fund grant which remains outstanding following receipt of the auditor’s certificate referred to in paragraph (5)(b) above shall, without prejudice to the recovery of any over-payment from any subsequent payment of standards fund grant to the education authority, be adjusted by payment between the authority and the Secretary of State.

7.  Where at the time of approving expenditure for the purposes of these Regulations, the Secretary of State requests information in respect of any purpose listed in the Schedule, payment of standards fund grant in respect of that purpose shall be conditional on that information being included in the education authority’s application for payment of grant.

8.—(1) The Secretary of State may from time to time determine further conditions on the fulfilment of which the making of any payment under these Regulations shall be dependent.

(2) Where conditions have been determined under this regulation no standards fund grant shall be payable unless such conditions have either been fulfilled or been withdrawn under paragraph (3) below.

(3) The Secretary of State may determine to withdraw or, after consulting the education authority, vary conditions determined under this regulation.

Requirements to be complied with

9.  Any education authority to whom a payment of standards fund grant has been made shall, if so required by the Secretary of State, furnish him with such further information as may be required to enable him to verify that any grant paid has been properly paid under these Regulations.

10.—(1) Any education authority to whom a payment of standards fund grant has been made shall comply with such requirements as may be determined by the Secretary of State in the case in question.

(2) Requirements determined under this regulation may include requirements as to—

(a) the repayment of standards fund grant;

(b) the payment to the Secretary of State of other sums related to the value of assets acquired, provided or improved—

(i) with the aid of standards fund grant; or

(ii) by any other body or persons referred to in regulation 4(a) above with the aid of payments made by the authority in respect of which standards fund grant has been paid; or

(c) the payment of interest on sums due to the Secretary of State.

11.—(1) The Secretary of State may require any education authority to whom a payment of standards fund grant in respect of the items specified in paragraphs 1, 3, 6(a), 6(c), 6(d), 6(e), 7(c), 9, 13, 14, 18, 19 or 21 of the Schedule is made to delegate decisions about the spending of—

(a) such grant, and

(b) the amount allocated by the authority to meet the prescribed expenditure approved in accordance with regulation 3,

to the governing body of a maintained school.

(2) The Secretary of State may determine to withdraw or, after consulting the education authority, vary requirements determined in pursuance of this regulation.

Revocation and transitional provisions

12.—(1) The following Regulations are hereby revoked, namely—

(a) The Education (Grants for Education Support and Training: Nursery Education) (England) Regulations 1996(10);

(b) the Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) Regulations 1997(11);

(c) the Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1997(12), and

(d) the Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1998(13).

(2) Nothing in paragraph (1) above shall prevent the Secretary of State making payments of grant authorised by the Regulations revoked by that paragraph in respect of expenditure incurred on or before 31st March 1998 or affect any condition or requirement determined by or in accordance with any of those Regulations.

Stephen Byers

Minister of State,

Department for Education and Employment

10th March 1998