The Education (Independent Educational Provision in England) (Provision of Information) Regulations 2010

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations revoke and replace the Education (Provision of Information by Independent Schools) Regulations 2003 (“the 2003 Regulations”). The Regulations apply to independent educational institutions which are independent schools but they do not apply to a school established as a city technology college or a city college for the technology of the arts before 26th July 2002 by an agreement under section 482 of the Education Act 1996 and which is not an Academy. Regulations 4 and 5 and paragraph 3(6) to (12) of Part 2 of the Schedule do not apply to Academies.

Regulation 3, and Part 2 of the Schedule, set out the information which must be contained in an application for the registration of an independent school under section 98(1) of the Education and Skills Act 2008 (“the 2008 Act”), and the manner in which such an application must be made.

Regulations 4 and 5, and Parts 3 and 4 of the Schedule, set out the information to be provided periodically by the proprietors of independent schools under section 123 of that Act.

Regulation 6 makes provision for the Secretary of State to remove a school from the register if the proprietor of the school fails to comply with a requirement in regulation 4 or 5 but a decision to remove a school from the register does not have effect during the period in which an appeal under section 124 of the 2008 Act may be brought or during any period when such an appeal has not been determined, withdrawn or otherwise disposed of.

The main changes to the 2003 Regulations are that applications and reports no longer require a signature and so can more easily be submitted electronically. Some requirements for information have been removed and paragraph 3(6) of the Schedule is a new provision requiring an application to enter an independent school on the register to state whether the school is specially organised to make special educational provision for students with special educational needs and, if so, the type or types of needs for which the school is specially organised to make such provision. Regulation 6, which enables the Secretary of State to remove a school from the register, now requires the Secretary of State to notify the proprietor of such a decision and sets out when the decision has effect. Lastly, under the 2003 Regulations it was an offence for a proprietor of an independent school to fail to provide information and this offence has been removed.

An impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the public and voluntary sector is available from the Independent Education and Boarding Team, Department for Education, LG11, Mowden Hall, Staindrop Road, Darlington DL3 9BG and accessible on the Department’s internet website at http://www.education.gov.uk. Copies have also been placed in the Library of each House of Parliament.