The Education (Maintained Special Schools) (England) Regulations 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision relating to special schools maintained by local education authorities (“maintained special schools”).

Part II prescribes various matters relating to proposals for the establishment, alteration and discontinuance of maintained special schools.

Regulation 3 with Schedule 1 prescribes (for the purposes of section 31 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998) the alterations for which notice of proposals must be published. Regulation 4 with Schedule 2 prescribes the information which must be contained in published proposals and regulation 5 prescribes the manner in which such proposals must be published. Regulation 6 with Schedule 3 prescribes additional information which has to be provided to the School Organisation Committee and (where proposals are published as a result of an order by the Secretary of State under Schedule 7 to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998) to the Secretary of State and regulation 7 prescribed other bodies to whom proposals must be sent. Regulation 8 prescribes the time limit for objecting to the proposals and the time limit within which (when proposals have been published by a local education authority) a local education authority must send copies of objections to the School Organisation Committee.

Regulation 9 prescribes the bodies with whom the school organisation committee or adjudicator must consult before approving proposals with modifications. Regulation 10 prescribes events which can be specified in a conditional approval.

Regulation 11 provides for the period after which, if the school organisation committee has not voted on a matter, they must, if the body by whom the proposals were published so requests, refer the matter to the adjudicator.

Regulation 12 prescribes the persons at whose request the school organisation committee or adjudicator may modify approved proposals and the bodies with whom the committee or adjudicator must consult before doing so.

Regulation 13 provides for the information which must be provided by the school organisation committee or adjudicator to various persons specified in regulation 13 in connection with published proposals.

Regulation 14 provides for the voting of the school organisation committee. Provision is made that each group of members is collectively to have a single vote when taking decisions relating to the approval of proposals to establish, alter or discontinue schools and that all such decisions must be unanimous decisions of those voting.

Regulation 15 provides for the time limit within which matters must be referred to the adjudicator.

Regulation 16 with Schedule 4 applies provisions of section 31 of, and Schedule 6 to, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 with modifications to cases where proposals are published under paragraph 5(4) of Schedule 6 to that Act that a body should not be under an obligation to implement approved proposals.

Regulation 17 makes modifications to the regulations which will apply during certain transitional periods.

In Part III regulation 18 makes provision for religious education at maintained special schools and regulation 19 prescribes the circumstances in which a child may be admitted to a maintained special school.