Section 32 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act 2000 amended section 1 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 (“the 1980 Act”) by imposing a duty on an education authority to secure the provision of school education for categories of children as may be prescribed by the Scottish Ministers. Section 1(1B) of the 1980 Act provides the power to prescribe the amount of school education that children within those categories are to receive.

The Provision of School Education for Children under School Age (Prescribed Children) (Scotland) Order 2002 (S.S.I. 2002/90

) prescribes the category of children eligible to receive pre-school education and article 3(1) of that Order provides that such children are to receive 412.5 hours of school education during the school year.

Article 2(2) of this Order amends the prescribed amount of education so that it is increased to 475 hours of school education during the school year.