Education (Scotland) Act 1980

Careers services of education authorities

126 Provision of services by education authorities

(1) Subject to subsections (3) to (5) below, it shall be the duty of each education authority—

(a) to make arrangements for the purpose of assisting persons who are attending, either full-time or part-time, educational institutions in Great Britain other than universities—

(i) to determine what employments will, having regard to their capabilities, be suitable for them and available to them when they leave the institutions, and

(ii) to determine what training will then be required by them and available to them in order to fit them for those employments;

(b) to make arrangements for the purpose of assisting persons leaving institutions mentioned in paragraph (a) above to obtain such employments and training as are so mentioned; and

(c) to make the arrangements made in pursuance of paragraphs (a) and (b) above available to persons who seek to make use of them and are either such persons as are mentioned in those paragraphs or persons attending or leaving universities in Great Britain;

and it shall also be the duty of each education authority to arrange for officers of the authority to be appointed to administer the arrangements made by the authority in pursuance of this subsection.

(2) An education authority may, and shall so far as the Secretary of State directs it to do so, make arrangements in accordance with the following subsection—

(a) for the purpose of assisting persons (other than those mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) above) who are seeking employment or different employment to determine—

(i) what employments are suitable for persons having their capabilities, and

(ii) what training they require and is available to them in order to fit them for those employments; and

(b) for the purpose of assisting those persons to obtain such employments and training as are mentioned in paragraph (a) above.

(3) The arrangements made in pursuance of subsection (1) or (2) above shall be arrangements—

(a) for the giving of assistance by collecting and furnishing information about persons seeking and offering employment and persons providing facilities and services for training; and

(b) for providing advice and guidance for the purposes mentioned in that subsection,

and may include arrangements for the provision of services calculated to facilitate the carrying out of arrangements made in pursuance of paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection.

(4) Subject to subsection (5) below, it shall be the duty of education authorities to consult and co-operate with one another to the extent appropriate for the purpose of securing that the functions conferred on them by subsections (1) and (2) above are performed efficiently; and, without prejudice to the powers exercisable by an authority for the purpose of performing that duty, any two or more education authorities may make arrangements on such terms as they think fit (which may include terms as to the making of payments by one authority to another)—

(a) for any of the authorities to perform any of those functions on behalf of another of the authorities as respects the whole or part of the other authority's area;

(b) for the authorities to act jointly in performing any of those functions as respects the whole or parts of their areas.

(5) The Manpower Services Commission and any education authority may make arrangements for the performance by the Commission on behalf of the authority of any function conferred on the authority by virtue of subsection (1) above or subsection (4) above so far as it relates to subsection (1), and any such arrangements—

(a) may be made in respect of the whole or part of the area of the authority ; and

(b) except in a case in which the Secretary of State has authorised the Commission to disregard this paragraph, must include provision for the making by the authority to the Commission of payments intended to defray the expenditure incurred by the Commission by virtue of the arrangements.

(6) The Secretary of State may by order provide that subsection (5) above, section 127(5) of this Act, this subsection and any arrangements in force by virtue of subsection (5) above or the said section 127(5) shall cease to have effect on a day specified in the order.

(7) The power to make an order under subsection (6) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, and such an order may include such supplemental and incidental provisions as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for the purposes of the order.

(8) The reference to part-time attendance in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) above does not include—

(a) part-time attendance where none of the relevant classes begins on any day before 5 o'clock in the evening ; and

(b) any other part-time attendance as to which the Secretary of State directs that it shall be disregarded for the purposes of that paragraph;

except that the said reference does include part-time attendance by persons who satisfy the education authority in question that their attendance is with a view to employment.

(9) In this section—

• " employment " means employment under a contract of service or apprenticeship or a contract for services or otherwise than under a contract; and

• " training " includes any education with a view to employment ;

and in this section and section 127 of this Act " university " includes a central institution and a college of education.

127 Records of vocational advice

(1) It shall be the duty of each education authority to keep records of the vocational advice given on behalf of the authority to such persons as are mentioned in subsection (1)(a) of section 126 of this Act.

(2) Where a person ceases to attend an educational institution (other than a university) in the area of an authority and begins to attend such an institution in the area of another authority it shall be the duty of the first-mentioned authority, on the request of the other authority, to furnish to the other authority any records relating to that person which have been kept by the first-mentioned authority in pursuance of subsection (1) above or transmitted to that authority in pursuance of this subsection and any records of vocational advice given to that person by the Secretary of State which have been transmitted to the first-mentioned authority by the Secretary of State.

(3) Where to the knowledge of an authority a person ceases to attend a school in the area of the authority otherwise than with a view to attending another school in the area of that or another authority, then, subject to subsection (4) below, it shall be the duty of the authority—

(a) to give him a written summary of any vocational advice already given to him on behalf of the authority and of any vocational advice relating to him of which records were transmitted to the authority in pursuance of subsection (2) above or by the Secretary of State; and

(b) to keep a copy of the summary for two years beginning with the date on which he ceased to attend the school in question; and

(c) to comply with a request for a copy of the summary which during that period is made to the authority by him; and

(d) to comply with a request for a copy of the summary which, during that period and at a time when the person to whom it relates is under the age of eighteen, is made to the authority by his parent;

but an authority shall not be required by virtue of paragraph (c) or (d) above to furnish more than one copy of the summary to the person to whom it relates or more than one copy of it to his parent.

(4) An authority shall not be required by virtue of paragraph (a) of subsection (3) above to furnish a person with the summary mentioned in that paragraph in a case where the authority has, or the authority and other authorities and the Secretary of State between them have, already furnished him with written statements which together contain the information which apart from this subsection would fall to be included in the summary; and that subsection shall have effect in such a case as if paragraph (a) were omitted and any reference to the summary in any other provision of that subsection were a reference to the statements.

(5) Subsection (5) of section 126 of this Act shall have effect in relation to any function conferred on an authority by virtue of the preceding provisions of this section as it has effect in relation to any function mentioned in that subsection.

(6) In this section—

• " authority " means education authority ;

• " vocational advice " means advice and guidance given in pursuance of arrangements made for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) of section 126 of this Act or in pursuance of the [1948 c. 46.] Employment and Training Act 1948.

128 Control of education authorities by Secretary of State

(1) It shall be the duty of each education authority—

(a) to perform the functions conferred on the authority by sections 126 and 127 of this Act in accordance with such guidance of a general character as the Secretary of State may give to the authority; and

(b) to provide the Secretary of State, in such manner and at such times as he may specify, with such information and facilities and services for obtaining information as he may specify with respect to the performance by the authority of those functions.

(2) The Secretary of State may make arrangements with one or more other Ministers of the Crown—

(a) for constituting a body consisting of officers of his and of the other Ministers and of such other persons, if any, as may be determined in pursuance of the arrangements ; and

(b) for the performance by that body on behalf of the Secretary of State of functions conferred on him by subsection (1) above.