The Education Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”) sets out the statutory framework for school inspections. The 2005 Act leaves much of the detail to be prescribed in Regulations. The Education (School Inspection) (Wales) Regulations 2006 (“the 2006 Regulations”) sets out much of that detail.

Paragraph 6 of Schedule 4 to the 2005 Act requires the appropriate authority (defined in section 43 of the 2005 Act) for the school to hold a meeting between the inspector who is conducting the inspection and parents of registered pupils at the school. Regulation 8 of the 2006 Regulations prescribes the detail of the arrangements for that meeting. In particular regulation 8(a) provides that the meeting must take place before the time when the inspection is to begin. These Regulations amend regulation 8(a) so that the meeting must take place no later than the end of the second working day following the start of the inspection (regulation 2(a)).

The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.