The Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) Regulations 1996

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 1st April 1996.

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

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Education (Grants and Awards) Act 1984;

“approved expenditure” means any expenditure which is approved as provided in regulation 3 below;

“basic curriculum” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2(1) of the Education Reform Act 1988;(1)

“classroom assistant” means an employee of an education authority or of the governing body of a school who is normally present in a classroom with a qualified teacher and who assists the teacher in the delivery of the curriculum in the school;

“determine” means determine by notice in writing;

“education authority” means a local education authority;

“financial year” means a period of twelve months ending with 31st March;

“grant” means a grant in pursuance of these Regulations;

“key stage 2” means the second key stage referred to in section 3(3) of the Education Reform Act 1988;

“language college” means a maintained school specialising in modern foreign languages;

“leisure time facilities” means facilities of a kind which education authorities are under the duty imposed by sections 41(3)(b) and 53(1) of the Education Act 1944(2) to secure are provided within their areas;

“maintained school” means a school maintained by an education authority;

“non-maintained special school” means a special school which is neither a maintained school nor a grant-maintained special school (within the meaning of section 182(3) or 187(3)(b) of the Education Act 1993);

“NC tasks” has the meaning assigned to that expression in the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 2) (England) Order 1995(3) and the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 3) (England) Order 1995;(4)

“prescribed expenditure” means expenditure by an education authority for or in connection with any of the purposes specified in the Schedule hereto;

“primary school” has the meaning assigned to it by section 114 of the Education Act 1944;(5)

“pupil” has the meaning assigned to it by section 14(6) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992;

“qualified teacher” means a person who, by virtue of the regulations(6) relating to the employment of teachers from time to time in force under section 218 of the Education Reform Act 1988(7), is qualified to be employed as a teacher at a school of the kind described in subsection (12) of that section;

“school” has the meaning assigned to it by section 14(5) of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992;(8)

“special school” has the meaning assigned to it by section 182(1) of the Education Act 1993;

“special support assistant” means a person who is normally present in a classroom with a qualified teacher and who assists the teacher in providing special education to children with special educational needs;

“special educational needs” has the meaning assigned to it by section 156(1) of the Education Act 1993;

“specialist teacher assistant” means an employee of an education authority or of the governing body of a maintained school or non-maintained special school who is normally present in a classroom with a qualified teacher and who assists the teacher in the delivery of the curriculum in the school;

“standard task assessment” has the meaning assigned to it by regulation 5 of the Education (National Curriculum) (Assessment Arrangements for the Core Subjects) (Key Stage 1) Order 1995(9) and “further assessment” means the assessment described in regulation 7 of that Order;

“technology college” means a maintained school specialising in mathematics, science and technology; and

“youth and community worker” means a person employed in connection with leisure time facilities, other than a person employed in a solely administrative, secretarial, clerical or manual capacity.

Expenditure in respect of which grants are payable

3.  Grants shall only be payable in respect of prescribed expenditure incurred or to be incurred in a financial year to the extent to which that expenditure is approved for that year by the Secretary of State 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 or 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.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, grants in respect of approved expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 1996 shall be payable at the rate of 60 per cent of such expenditure.

(2) Grants in respect of approved expenditure incurred by an education authority on or after 1st April 1996 in respect of items 14, 15(a) and 16 in the Schedule hereto shall be payable at the rate of 100 per cent of such expenditure.

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 Secretary of State, authenticated by the officer of the authority responsible for the administration of their financial affairs or his deputy.

(2) Applications for the payment of grant which relate to expenditure incurred on or after 1st April 1996 shall relate to expenditure over one or more of the periods specified in paragraph (3) below 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 paragraphs (2), (4), (5) and (6) of this regulation 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 commencing on 1st January in any year is submitted under paragraph (1) above, such payment as the Secretary of State may determine but not exceeding three-quarters of that 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) below.

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

(a) submit to the Secretary of State 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 Secretary of State 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 13(5), (5A) and (6) of the Local Government Finance Act 1982(10) certifying that in his 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 1 of the Act.

(6) No payment of grant shall be made in respect of expenditure incurred by an education authority in the period beginning on 1st August 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 Secretary of State has not yet received the auditor’s certificate referred to in paragraph (5)(b) above 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) above 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 Secretary of State.

7.  Where at the time of approving expenditure for the purpose of these Regulations, the Secretary of State requests information in respect of any purpose listed in the Schedule hereto, 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 Secretary of State 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) below.

(3) The Secretary of State may determine to withdraw or, after consulting the education authority, very 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 Secretary of State, furnish her with such further information as may be required to enable her to verify that any grant paid has been properly paid under these Regulations.

10.—(1) Any education authority to whom a payment of grant has been made shall comply with such requirements as may be determined by the Secretary of State in the case in question.

(2) Requirements determined under this regulation may include requirements as to—

(a) the repayment of grant;

(b) the payment to the Secretary of State of other sums related to the value of assets acquired, provided or improved—

(i) with the aid of grant; or

(ii) by any other body or persons referred to in regulation 4(a) above with the aid of payments made by the authority in respect of which grant has been paid; or

(c) the payment of interest on sums due to the Secretary of State.

11.—(1) The Secretary of State may require any education authority to whom a payment of grant in respect of item 1, 2(b), 3(b), 5, 8, 13(a) or 14 in the Schedule is made to delegate decisions about the spending of—

(a) such grant, and

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

to the governing body of a maintained school.

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

Revocation and transitional provisions

12.  The Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) Regulations 1995(11) and the Education (Grants for Education Support and Training) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 1995(12) are hereby revoked but nothing in this regulation shall prevent the Secretary of State making payments of grant authorised by those Regulations in respect of expenditure incurred on or before 31st March 1996 or affect any condition or requirement determined by or in accordance with any of the Regulations so revoked.