Commencement, citation and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Budget Statements) (Wales) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force on 24th March 1999.
(2) These Regulations apply in relation to local education authorities in Wales.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations–
“the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 1996();
“the 1998 Act” means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;
the “1990”, “1993”, “1994” and “1995” Regulations mean the Education (School Financial Statements) (Prescribed Particulars etc) Regulations 1990, 1993, 1994 and 1995, respectively();
“the 1999 Regulations” means the Financing of Maintained Schools Regulations 1999();
“allocation formula” means the authority’s formula under regulation 10 of the 1999 Regulations used to determine schools' budget shares;
“authority” means a local education authority;
“budget statement” means the statement referred to in section 52(1) of the 1998 Act;
“factor” means one of the factors or criteria taken into account in the allocation formula;
“ISB” means an authority’s individual schools budget within the meaning of section 46(2) of the 1998 Act;
“LSB” means an authority’s local schools budget within the meaning of section 46(1) of the 1998 Act; and
“maintained school” means–
(a)
in relation to the period ending immediately before 1st September 1999, a county, voluntary, maintained special or grant-maintained school within the meaning of the 1996 Act; and
(b)
in relation to the period beginning on 1st September 1999, a community, foundation or voluntary school or a community or foundation special school;
“middle school” has the meaning given by section 5(3) of the 1996 Act().
“relevant” in relation to “age”, “age group” and “year group” means an age, age group or year group separately treated in the allocation formula for the purposes of determining that part of each school’s budget share which is to be determined by reference to numbers of registered pupils;
“school” means a maintained school;
“special educational needs” and “special educational provision” have the meanings given to those expressions by section 312 of the 1996 Act; and
“statement” in relation to a pupil with special educational needs means a statement made under section 324(1) of the 1996 Act.
(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,–
(a)references to primary or secondary schools do not include special schools; and
(b)references to the number or numbers of registered pupils at one or more schools are references to the number or numbers of such pupils required under the allocation formula to be used for the initial determination of that school’s budget share or those schools' budget shares for the year but ignoring any weighting in accordance with paragraph (7) or any adjustment under paragraph (8) of regulation 11 of the 1999 Regulations.
(3) The following table shows provisions of the 1996 Act or the 1998 Act defining or otherwise explaining expressions used in these Regulations–
financial year | section 579(1) of the 1996 Act |
scheme | section 48(1) of the 1998 Act |
school’s budget share | section 47(1) of the 1998 Act |
(4) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered.
Revocation and transitional provisions
3.—(1) Subject to the following paragraphs of this regulation, the Education (School Financial Statements) (Prescribed Particulars etc.) Regulations 1995 and the Education (School Financial Statements) (Prescribed Particulars etc.) (Amendment and Revocation) Regulations 1996 are revoked, insofar as they apply to budget statements (as therein defined) in relation to local education authorities in Wales.
(2) The 1990 Regulations shall continue to apply to local education authorities in Wales in relation to a financial year beginning on or before 1st April 1992.
(3) The 1993 Regulations shall continue to apply to local education authorities in Wales in relation to the financial year beginning on 1st April 1993.
(4) The 1994 Regulations shall continue to apply to local education authorities in Wales in relation to the financial years beginning on 1st April 1994 and 1st April 1995.
(5) The 1995 Regulations shall continue to apply to local education authorities in Wales in relation to the financial years beginning on 1st April 1996, 1st April 1997 and 1st April 1998.
Prescribed form of, and information to be contained in, budget statements
4. A budget statement shall be prepared in four parts, and shall contain the information prescribed for the purposes of section 52(1) of the 1998 Act, as follows–
(a)Part 1 shall be in the form prescribed in Schedule 1 and shall contain the information, relating to the authority’s planned expenditure for the financial year to which the budget statement relates, specified in the notes to Part 1 in Schedule 1;
(b)Part 2 shall be in the form prescribed in Schedule 2 and shall contain the information, with respect to the authority’s planned expenditure for each school for the financial year to which the budget statement relates, specified in the notes to Part 2 in Schedule 2;
(c)Part 3 shall be in the form prescribed in Schedule 3 and shall contain the information with respect to the authority’s allocation formula specified in the notes to Part 3 in Schedule 3; and
(d)Part 4 shall contain the information with respect to the budget share of each school for the financial year to which the budget statement relates specified in Schedule 4.
Prescribed manner and time of publication of budget statements
5. For the purposes of section 52(3)(b) of the 1998 Act, every budget statement shall be published by–
(a)supplying a copy to the Secretary of State for Wales in accordance with regulation 6; and
(b)making a copy available for reference by parents and other persons at all reasonable times and without charge at each education office of the authority.
6.—(1) Parts 1 and 2 of the budget statement (but not Parts 3 and 4 of that statement) shall be supplied to the Secretary of State for Wales by electronic mail or in the form of machine readable data on a floppy disc provided for that purpose by the Secretary of State.
(2) Any computer language or software used to supply tables must be one which the Secretary of State for Wales has notified to the authority.
7.—(1) A budget statement shall be published before the beginning of the financial year to which it relates.
(2) A budget statement may not be revised during the financial year to which it relates other than to correct errors in the statement as previously published.
(3) A revised budget statement shall be subject to regulations 4, 5, 6, 7(2) and 8.
8. At the same time as they publish a budget statement in accordance with regulation 5, the authority shall furnish the governing body and head teacher of each school maintained by them with a copy of Parts 1, 2 and 3 of the budget statement and with a copy of that part of Part 4 of the budget statement which relates to the school in question, save that if the governing body or the head teacher so request the authority shall furnish them with a complete copy of Part 4 of the budget statement.
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Wales
Peter Hain
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Welsh Office
26th February 1999