Education and Skills Act 2008

Emergencies

120 Application to justice of the peace for order

(1) The Secretary of State may apply to a justice of the peace for—

(a) an order imposing a relevant restriction on the proprietor of a registered independent educational institution, or

(b) an order that such an institution be removed from the register.

(2) If it appears to the justice that a student at the institution in question is suffering or is likely to suffer significant harm, the justice may make the order.

(3) An application under this section may be made without notice.

(4) An order under this section must be in writing.

(5) A copy of an order under this section must be served on the proprietor of the institution by the Secretary of State as soon as reasonably practicable after the order is made.

(6) An order under this section has effect from the time the copy is served on the proprietor (and, accordingly, in the case of an order under subsection (1)(b), the Secretary of State must not remove the institution from the register in pursuance of the order before that time).

(7) For the purposes of this section, “harm” has the same meaning as in the Children Act 1989 (c. 41) and the question of whether harm is significant is to be determined in accordance with section 31(10) of that Act.

121 Relevant restriction imposed by justice of the peace: supplementary

(1) This section applies where the proprietor of an institution is subject to a relevant restriction imposed by an order of a justice of the peace under section 120(1)(a).

(2) If the proprietor fails to comply with the relevant restriction, the proprietor is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 51 weeks or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (or to both).

(3) In relation to an offence committed before the commencement of section 281(5) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44), for “51 weeks” in subsection (2) substitute “six months”.

122 Order of justice of the peace: notification

(1) The Secretary of State must comply with this section as soon as reasonably practicable after an order is made under section 120 against the proprietor of an institution.

(2) The Secretary of State must serve on the proprietor—

(a) a copy of any written statement in support of the application for the order, and

(b) notice of the right of appeal conferred by section 126.

(3) In the case of an order made against the proprietor of a special institution, the Secretary of State must notify the following that the order has been made—

(a) the local education authority in whose area the institution is situated;

(b) any other local education authority that the Secretary of State, after reasonable enquiry, is aware has specified the institution in a statement of special educational needs in respect of a student at the institution.

(4) In this section “a special institution” means an institution that is specially organised to make special educational provision for students with special educational needs.