Commentary on Sections

Part 7 General

Section 72 - Status of this Act as an Education Act

168.This section provides that the Act is included in the list of Education Acts set out in section 578 of the 1996 Act.

169.The effect of this is that powers and duties that apply throughout the statute book in relation to the “Education Acts” will apply in relation to the Act. For instance, it means that the Welsh Ministers have the power, under Part 2 of the Schools Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013, to intervene in the conduct of a maintained school or maintained nursery school in the event of its governing body failing to comply with duties under the Act or acting unreasonably in the course of any functions under the Act. It also means that the Welsh Ministers have power, under the 2013 Act, to intervene in the exercise of a function conferred on a local authority under this Act, in the event of the authority failing to comply with duties under the Act or acting unreasonably in the exercise of a function under the Act.