The Education Standards Grants (Wales) Regulations 2002

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education Standards Grants (Wales) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 1st April 2002.

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

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

• “the 1996 Act”(“Deddf 1996”) means the Education Act 1996;

• “the 1998 Act” (“Deddf 1998”) means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998(1);

• “annual review meeting” (“cyfarfod adolygu blynyddol”) 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(2);

• “approved expenditure” (“gwariant a gymeradwywyd”) means any expenditure which is approved as provided in regulation 3;

• “baseline assessment scheme” (“cynllun asesu gwaelodlin”) has the meaning given to it in section 15 of the Education Act 1997(3);

• “classroom assistant” (“cynorthwy-ydd ystafell ddosbarth”) 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;

• “determine”(“penderfynu”) means determine by notice in writing;

• “education authority” (“awdurdod addysg”) means a local education authority in Wales;

• “education strategic plan” (“cynllun strategol addysg”) means an education development plan prepared by an education authority in accordance with section 6 of the 1998 Act;

• “financial year” (“blwyddyn ariannol”) means a period of twelve months ending with 31st March;

• “grant” (“grant”) means a grant payable under section 484 of the 1996 Act in pursuance of these Regulations;

• “key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4” (“cyfnodau allweddol 1, 2, 3 a 4”) means the periods specified in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) respectively of section 355(1) of the 1996 Act;

• “learning support assistant” (“cynorthwy-ydd cynnal dysgu”) 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 in relation to children with special educational needs;

• “leisure-time facilities” (“cyfleusterau amser hamdden”) means the facilities of a kind which education authorities are under the duty imposed by sections 2(3)(b) and 508(1) of the 1996 Act to secure are provided within their areas;

• “mainstream school” (“ysgol brif-ffrwd”) means a maintained school other than a special school;

• “maintained school” (“ysgol a gynhelir”) means a school maintained by an education authority;

• “member of the Inspectorate” (“aelod o'r Arolygiaeth”) has the meaning given to it in section 46(1) of the School Inspections Act 1996(4);

• “mentor” (“mentor”) means an experienced head teacher giving advice and assistance to support the professional development of an inexperienced head teacher;

• “the National Assembly” (“y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol”) means the National Assembly for Wales;

• “National Grid for Learning” (“Grid Cenedlaethol ar gyfer Dysgu”) means the 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;

• “parent partnership services” (“gwasanaethau partneriaeth rhieni”) means the arrangements made by an education authority under section 332A of the 1996 Act for the provision of advice and information about matters relating to special educational needs to parents of children with special educational needs;

• “prescribed expenditure” (“gwariant a ragnodwyd”) means expenditure by an education authority for or in connection with any of the purposes specified in the Schedule;

• “pupil” (“disgybl”) has the meaning given to it in section 3 of the 1996 Act;

• “Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC)” (“Cyfrifiad Ysgolion Blynyddol ar Lefel Disgyblion (PLASC)”) means the annual census that every school in Wales will at some date in the future be required to provide to the National Assembly providing information on all pupils at an individual pupil level rather than aggregate information at school level;

• “qualified teacher” (“athro cymwysedig neu athrawes gymwysedig”) means a person who, by virtue of the regulations(5) relating to the employment of teachers from time to time in force under section 218 of the Education Reform Act 1988(6), is qualified to be employed as a teacher at a school of the kind described in subsection (12) of that section;

• “registered inspector” (“arolygydd cofrestredig”) means a person who is registered as an inspector in accordance with section 7(1) and (2) of the School Inspections Act 1996;

• “registered teacher” (“athro cofrestredig neu athrawes gofrestredig”) means a person to whom an authorisation has been granted in accordance with Part III of Schedule 2 to the Education (Teachers' Qualifications and Health Standards) (Wales) Regulations 1999;

• “school development plan” (“cynllun datblygu ysgol”) means a plan prepared by the governing body of the school in question setting out the goals of the school and the action necessary over the next few years to enable the school to move towards achieving those goals;

• “school site” (“safle ysgol”) has the meaning given to it in paragraph 2(11) of Schedule 3 to the 1998 Act;

• “special educational needs” (“anghenion addysgol arbennig”) has the meaning given to it in section 312(1) of the 1996 Act;

• “special school” (“ysgol arbennig”) has the meaning given to it in section 337(1) of the 1996 Act(7);

• “summer literacy school” (“ysgol haf ar lythrennedd”) 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;

• “summer numeracy school” (“ysgol haf ar rifedd”) means a scheme taking place during the summer holidays which aims to raise standards of numeracy in pupils who are about to join secondary school;

• “Wales Science Year” (“Blwyddyn Gwyddoniaeth Cymru”) means the programme of events, projects and resources designed to stimulate the imagination of young people, particularly those aged between 10 and 19, about science and technology running from 1st September 2001 to 31st December 2002;

• “young person” (“person ifanc”) has the meaning given to it in section 579(1) of the 1996 Act;

• “youth and community worker” (“gweithiwr ieuenctid a chymuned neu weithwraig ieuenctid a chymuned”) means a person employed in connection with leisure-time facilities, other than in a solely administrative, secretarial, clerical or manual capacity.

(2) In these Regulations a reference to a regulation is a reference to a regulation contained herein, a reference in a regulation to a paragraph is a reference to a paragraph of that regulation, and a reference to the Schedule is a reference to the Schedule to these Regulations.

Expenditure in respect of which grants are payable

3.  Grants shall be payable only in respect of prescribed expenditure incurred or to be incurred in a financial year and only to the extent to which that expenditure is approved for that year by the National Assembly for the purposes of these Regulations.

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 Grant

5.  Grants in respect of approved expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 2002 of the kind 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 of Schedule	Percentage rate of grant
1(l), 3(b) and 9(d)	100
All other paragraphs	60

Conditions for payment of grant

6.—(1) No payment of grant shall be made except in response to an application in writing from an education authority to the National Assembly, authenticated by the officer of the authority responsible for the administration of their financial affairs or that person’s deputy.

(2) Applications for the payment of grant shall relate to expenditure over one or more of the periods specified in paragraph (3) 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 paragraph (2) 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 1st January to 31st March in any year is submitted under paragraph (1), such payment as the National Assembly may determine, but not exceeding, save where it determines otherwise, three-quarters of the grant applied for in respect of that expenditure may be made forthwith, but no further payment of grant shall be made in respect of that expenditure until a statement has been submitted in accordance with paragraph (5)(a).

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

(a) submit to the National Assembly a statement which shall specify the approved expenditure in respect of which 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 National Assembly 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 3(5), (6) and (7) of the Audit Commission Act 1998(8) certifying that in his or her 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(9).

(6) No payment of grant shall be made in respect of expenditure incurred by an education authority in the period 1st August to 31st December in any year or any subsequent period if grant was paid to the authority in respect of expenditure in the previous financial year but the National Assembly has not yet received the auditor’s certificate referred to in paragraph (5)(b) for that year.

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

7.  Where at the time of approving expenditure for the purpose of these Regulations, the National Assembly requests information in respect of any purpose listed in the Schedule, payment of 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 National Assembly may from time to time determine further conditions on the fulfilment of which the making of any payment in pursuance of these Regulations shall be dependent.

(2) Where conditions have been determined in pursuance of this regulation no grant shall be payable unless such conditions have either been fulfilled or been withdrawn in pursuance of paragraph (3).

(3) The National Assembly may determine to withdraw or, after consulting the education authority, to vary conditions determined in pursuance of this regulation.

Requirements to be complied with

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

10.  Any education authority to whom a payment of grant has been made shall comply with such requirements (including requirements as to the repayment of grant or the payment to the National Assembly of other sums related to the value of assets acquired, provided or improved with the aid of grant or interest on sums due to it) as may be determined by the National Assembly in the case in question.

11.—(1) The National Assembly may determine that any education authority must delegate decisions about the spending of—

(a) grant, and

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

to the governing body of a maintained school.

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

Revocation and saving provisions

12.  The Education (Education Standards Grants) (Wales) Regulations 2001(10) are hereby revoked, but those Regulations shall continue to apply to the payments of grant authorised by those Regulations in respect of expenditure incurred before the day these Regulations come into force and to any condition or requirement determined by or in accordance with the Regulations so revoked.

Signed on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales under section 66(1) of the Government of Wales Act 1998(11).

D. Elis-Thomas

The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly

28th February 2002