38.This section explains the duties that apply to an education authority after it has undertaken an initial assessment of the need for GMPE in relation to a GMPE assessment area.
39.Subsection (1) states that, where an education authority decides under section 9(5)(a) that there is a potential need for GMPE in the GMPE assessment area, the authority must either carry out a full assessment of the need for GMPE in accordance with section 12 or, without carrying out such an assessment, simply exercise its discretion to take such steps as are necessary to secure the provision of such GMPE as it considers appropriate in the GMPE assessment area.
40.Subsection (2) states that where an education authority decides under section 9(5)(b) that there is no potential need for GMPE in the GMPE assessment area, the authority must either take no further action to provide GMPE in relation to that parental request, carry out a full assessment of the need for GMPE in that area in accordance with section 12 or, without carrying out such an assessment, take such steps as are necessary to secure the provision of such GMPE as it considers appropriate in the area.
41.Whatever action an education authority decides to take following an initial assessment of the need for GMPE, subsections (3) and (4) make it clear that the authority is obliged to notify the parent who made the request, the parents of other children in the same year group who requested GMPE and the parents of other children who were included in the parental request as evidence of demand in a different year group. According to subsection (5), the authority is also obliged to publish its determination as to whether or not there is a potential need for GMPE, its decision about what action to take, the reasons for its determination and decision and information about the GMPE assessment area in respect of which it made its determination. Such information must be published on the authority’s website no later than 6 weeks after receipt of the request that triggered the assessment.
42.Where an education authority decides under either subsection (1) or (2) to take steps to secure the provision of GMPE, subsection (6) requires that the authority must ensure that the GMPE is provided in the GMPE assessment area within such period after making the decision as is reasonable in all the circumstances.