The LEA Budget, Schools Budget and Individual Schools Budget (England) Regulations 2003

Citation, commencement, application and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the LEA Budget, Schools Budget and Individual Schools Budget (England) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 31st December 2003.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to the financial year beginning on 1st April 2004.

(3) These Regulations apply only in relation to England.

(4) In these Regulations—

(a) “the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 1996(1);

(b) “the 1998 Act” means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;

(c) “the 2000 Act” means the Learning and Skills Act 2000(2);

(d) “the 2002 Act” means the Education Act 2002(3);

(e) “the 2002 Regulations” means the LEA Budget, Schools Budget and Individual SchoolsBudget (England) Regulations 2002(4);

(f) a reference to capital expenditure means expenditure which an authority propose to capitalise in their accounts in accordance with proper practices being those accounting practices—

(i) which the authority are required to follow by virtue of any enactment; or

(ii) which, so far as they are consistent with any such enactment, are generally regarded whether by reference to any generally recognised published code or otherwise, as proper accounting practices to be followed in the keeping of the accounts of local authorities, either generally or of the description concerned(5);

(g) a reference to CERA means capital expenditure which an authority expect to charge to a revenue account of the authority as defined in section 41(2) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989(6);

(h) a reference (however framed) to a community, foundation or voluntary school, a community or foundation special school or maintained nursery school includes a proposedschool which on implementation of proposals for the establishment of the school will be such a school and which has a temporary governing body;

(i) the “Excellence in Cities” and “Excellence Clusters” programmes mean the programmes of that name under which funds are paid to schools by the Secretary of State;

(j) references to expenditure are references to that expenditure net of—

(i) all related specific grants;

(ii) all related fees, charges and income;

(iii) funding received from the Secretary of State in respect of PFI scheme unitary payments; and

(iv) any LPSA grant which the authority propose to apply to an agreed activity or activities in pursuance of targets specified under the relevant Local PublicService Agreement

received by the local education authority;

(k) a reference to a former grant-maintained or grant-maintained special school is a reference to a school which was such a school within the meaning of the 1996 Act immediately before 1st April 1999;

(l) a reference to a formula means a formula determined (after consultation) by the local education authority before the beginning of the financial year beginning on 1st April 2004 by which they will determine schools' budget shares in that financial year having regard to factors, criteria and requirements prescribed in regulations made under section 47 of the 1998 Act;

(m) a reference to a governing body includes the temporary governing body of a proposed school falling within paragraph (h);

(n) a reference to LPSA grant is a reference to a grant paid to the authority under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003(7) in connection with a Local Public Service Agreement into which the authority has entered;

(o) “maintained school” means a community, foundation or voluntary school or a community or foundation special school or a maintained nursery school;

(p) a reference to a particular class or description of expenditure in relation to maintained schools and to pupils registered at such schools shall include any expenditure of that class or description as the authority may incur in relation to Academies(8) and to pupils registered at Academies;

(q) a reference to a PFI scheme unitary payment is a reference to a charge payable by the local education authority under a private finance transaction;

(r) a reference to a primary or secondary school means a primary or secondary school which is a community, foundation, voluntary or maintained nursery school;

(s) a reference to a private finance transaction is a reference to a transaction as defined by regulation 16 of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance) Regulations 1997(9);

(t) a reference to proposals for the establishment of a school is a reference to a proposal for the establishment of the school under section 28 or 31 of, or paragraph 5 of Schedule 7 to, the 1998 Act, section 70 of the 2002 Act, or section 113A of and Schedule 7A(10) to the 2000 Act;

(u) a reference (however framed) to schools maintained by a local education authority does not include schools which are pupil referral units(11);

(v) a reference to specific grant means any grant paid to the authority under conditions which impose restrictions on the particular purposes of the authority for which the grant may be used, provided that a specific grant shall not include—

(i) any grant made by the Learning and Skills Council for England(12) under section 7 of the 2000 Act in respect of sixth form funding; or

(ii) any specific grant which is used to support expenditure through the individual schools budget;

(w) “standards fund grant” means the sum of money paid under that name to a local education authority by the Secretary of State under section 14 of the 2002 Act.

(1)

1996 c. 56.

(2)

2000 c. 21.

(3)

2002 c. 32.

(4)

SI 2002/3199.

(5)

These are the proper practices as referred to in section 66(4) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (c. 42) and, at the date that these Regulations are made, they include the Code of Practice on Local Authority Accounting in Great Britain 2002, as updated (ISBN 0 85299 947 X).

(6)

1989 c. 42.

(7)

2003 c. 26.

(8)

Academies are established under section 482 of the 1996 Act. Section 482 was substituted by section 65 of the 2002 Act.

(9)

S.I. 1997/319, as amended by S.I. 1998/371, 1999/1852 and 2003/515.

(10)

Section 113A and Schedule 7A were inserted by section 72 of, and Schedule 9 to, the 2002 Act.

(11)

Pupil referral units are established under section 19 of the 1996 Act.

(12)

The Learning and Skills Council was established under section 1 of the 2000 Act.