Education (Schools) Act 1997 This Act - the first education act of Tony Blair's New Labour government - abolished the assisted places scheme (which had been created by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in section 17 of the 1980 Education Act) The printed version of this Act does not have a preliminary page setting out the contents, so I have created it here. The page number in this section (i) is therefore arbitrary.
The text of the Education (Schools) Act 1997 was prepared by Derek Gillard and uploaded on 13 December 2020. |
Education (Schools) Act 1997 © Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. [page i] 1 Abolition of assisted places scheme in England and Wales
5 Phasing out of assisted places scheme in Scotland 6 Consequential amendments and repeals
Schedule - Repeals Part I - Repeals extending to England and Wales [page 1] An Act to make provision for and in connection with the ending of the assisted places schemes in England and Wales and in Scotland. [31st July 1997] Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
1 Abolition of assisted places scheme in England and Wales The following provisions of the Education Act 1996 shall cease to have effect - (a) section 479 (duty of the Secretary of State to operate the assisted places scheme);(2) Accordingly any participation agreement in force immediately before the commencement of this section shall also cease to have effect. (3) Nothing in this Act affects the operation of - (a) any participation agreement,in relation to the 1996-97 school year or any previous school year. [page 2] 2 Transitional arrangements for existing assisted pupils (1) A former participating school may provide assisted places at the school for the 1997-98 school year or a subsequent school year, but may only do so - (a) for existing assisted pupils at the school; and(2) If a pupil is provided with an assisted place under subsection (1) at a time when he is receiving primary education, he shall cease to hold that place - (a) at the end of the school year in which he completes his primary education; or(3) Where a school providing assisted places under subsection (1) - (a) remits fees that otherwise would be chargeable in respect of pupils holding such places at the school, andthe Secretary of State shall reimburse the school for the fees so remitted. (4) The fees in relation to which subsection (3) applies are - (a) tuition and other fees the payment of which is a condition of attendance at the school but excluding boarding fees and such other fees as may be excluded by or in accordance with regulations under section 3; and(5) For the purposes of this section a pupil at a former participating school is an existing assisted pupil if he was selected (or provisionally selected) for an assisted place at the school at any time prior to the beginning of the 1997-98 school year and either - (a) he continues as, or becomes, a registered pupil at the school at the beginning of the first term of that year; or(6) In subsection (5) - (a) "assisted place" means an assisted place provided for the purposes of the assisted places scheme; and3 Regulations for purposes of transitional arrangements (1) The Secretary of State may by regulations make such provision as appears to him to be expedient in connection with the provisions of section 1 or 2. (2) Regulations under this section may in particular - [page 3] (a) prescribe the conditions subject to which, the extent to which, and the arrangements in accordance with which, fees are to be remitted by schools providing assisted places under section 2(1);(3) Regulations under this section may also require or enable schools providing assisted places under section 2(1) - (a) to make grants in respect of incidental expenses, andand for this purpose expenses or charges are "incidental" if they are in respect of matters incidental to or arising out of the attendance at the schools of pupils holding assisted places provided under section 2(1). (4) Any regulations made under subsection (3) shall require any amounts granted or remitted by a school in accordance with the regulations to be reimbursed to the school by the Secretary of State; and any such regulations may make, in connection with the making of any such grants or remissions, provision such as is authorised to be made in connection with the remission of fees by paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) of subsection (2). (5) Regulations under this section may authorise the Secretary of State to make provision for any purpose specified in the regulations. (6) Regulations made under subsection (2)(a) or (b) shall be reviewed by the Secretary of State - (a) not later than two years after the date on which the first such regulations are made; and(7) The Secretary of State shall - (a) before making regulations under subsection (1) or (2), or [page 4] (b) when conducting any review under subsection (6),consult such bodies as appear to him to be appropriate and representative of schools that will be or are providing assisted places under section 2(1). (8) Regulations under this section shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament. (9) Any such regulations may make different provision for different cases, circumstances or areas and may contain such incidental, supplemental, saving or transitional provisions as the Secretary of State thinks fit. 4 Construction of sections 1 to 3 (1) In sections 1 to 3 - "assisted place", in relation to the 1997-98 school year or any subsequent school year, means an assisted place provided under section 2(1);(2) Except where the context otherwise requires, references in sections 2 and 3 to a school include the proprietors of the school and persons acting with their authority. (3) Sections 1 to 3 shall be construed as one with the Education Act 1996. 5 Phasing out of assisted places scheme in Scotland (1) Section 75A (assisted places) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 ("the 1980 Act") shall be amended as follows - (a) in subsection (1), for the words from the beginning to "establish and" there shall be substituted the words "The Secretary of State shall, subject to subsections (1A) and (1B) below,"; [page 5] (c) for subsection (2) there shall be substituted the following subsection -relating to that pupil, that he should be permitted to take advantage of that place after the beginning of that term,and, for the purposes of this section, "1997-98 school year" means the period of twelve months beginning on 1st August 1997. [page 6] (2) The following provisions of the 1980 Act shall cease to have effect -above, the Secretary of State may by regulations make such provision as he considers necessary for or in relation to the ending of the scheme. (a) in section 75A, subsection (6) and, in subsection (9), paragraphs (a) and (b) and, in paragraph (e), the words "the admission of pupils to assisted places,"; and 6 Consequential amendments and repeals (1) In section 548 of the Education Act 1996 (no right to give corporal punishment), in subsection (4)(a) for the words from "under" to "479" there shall be substituted "provided under section 2(1) of the Education (Schools) Act 1997". (2) In section 578 of that Act (meaning of "the Education Acts"), at the appropriate place there shall be inserted - "the Education (Schools) Act 1997"(3) The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Act are repealed to the extent specified. 7 Short title, commencement and extent (1) This Act may be cited as the Education (Schools) Act 1997. (2) This Act shall be included in the list of Education Acts set out in section 578 of the Education Act 1996. (3) In this Act - (a) the following provisions shall come into force on 1st September 1997 -(4) In this Act -sections 1 and 2,(b) the following provisions shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may appoint by order made by statutory instrument - (a) the following provisions extend to England and Wales only -sections 1 to 4, [page 7] (b) the following provisions extend to Scotland only -section 5, andand this section extends to England and Wales and Scotland. [page 8]
Section 6 PART I REPEALS EXTENDING TO ENGLAND AND WALES
REPEALS EXTENDING TO SCOTLAND
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