(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Section 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 requires local education authorities to prepare school organisation plans for their areas setting out how, during the period covered by the plan, they propose to exercise their functions with a view to securing the provision of primary and secondary education that will meet the needs of the population of their area, and specifying any facilities which they expect to be available outside their area for providing such education.

These Regulations, which are made under section 26, revoke and replace the Education (School Organisation Plans) (Wales) Regulations 1999. They provide for the following matters—

  • the period each such plan is to cover (regulation 4(1) and (2));

  • the matters which must be dealt with in each plan (regulation 4(3));

  • the preparation and publication of a draft plan, and the manner in which draft plans are to be published (regulation 5(1) and (2));

  • the new requirements relating to the intervals at which draft plans must be prepared and the dates by which they must be published (regulation 5(3) to (5));

  • a requirement to consult those persons an authority considers appropriate before draft plans are published (regulation 5(6));

  • the publication, in at least one newspaper circulating in the area of the authority, of a notice in respect of each draft plan, and the information to be included in such a notice (regulation 6);

  • the procedure whereby persons may submit comments on a draft plan and the time scale within which such comments must be submitted (regulation 7);

  • the procedure for the adoption of a draft plan by the authority (regulation 8);

  • the preparation and publication of a fresh draft plan where the authority decide not to adopt a draft plan, the manner in which such a plan is to be published and the adoption of such a plan (regulation 9);

  • the new requirements regarding the publication of an adopted plan on the Internet (regulation 10);

  • the publication in a newspaper circulating in the area of the authority of a notice in respect of an adopted plan, and the information to be included in such a notice (regulation 11).