Education (Scotland) Act 1980

112 Procedure in preparation of reorganisation schemes

(1) Before making a scheme for the reorganisation of any educational endowment the Secretary of State shall prepare a draft scheme and shall—

(a) send copies of the draft scheme to the governing body of the endowment to which it relates; and

(b) cause the draft scheme to be published in such manner as he thinks sufficient for giving information to all persons interested in the scheme ;

and the governing body of that endowment or any other person interested in the scheme may, not later than the expiry of the period of one month from the first publication of the draft scheme, send in writing to the Secretary of State objections to the draft scheme, or proposed amendments thereto, or both.

(2) If within the period referred to in subsection (1) above no objection and no proposed amendment to the draft scheme is received by him, the Secretary of State may by statutory instrument make the scheme in the terms of the draft scheme published under subsection (1) above.

(3) If within the said period objections or proposed amendments to the draft scheme are received by him, the Secretary of State shall consider those objections and proposed amendments and may thereafter, if he thinks fit, frame a scheme in such form as he thinks expedient.

(4) If the Secretary of State frames a scheme under subsection (3) above, he shall as soon as practicable thereafter—

(a) give to the persons who made the objections or, as the case may be, proposed the amendments to the draft scheme notice in writing of his decision with respect to those objections or amendments, together with a statement in writing of the reasons for his decision;

(b) send copies of the scheme to the governing body of the endowment to which it relates ;

(c) cause the scheme to be published in such manner as he thinks sufficient for giving information to all persons interested in the scheme;

(d) cause to be published, along with the scheme, a notice—

(i) stating that, unless not later than the expiry of the period of one month from the first publication of the scheme a petition or appeal is presented to the Court of Session in accordance with the following provisions of this section, the Secretary of State proposes by statutory instrument to make the scheme in the terms in which it has been published, and

(ii) drawing attention to the provisions of subsection (6) below in such a way as to inform all persons concerned of their right under that subsection to present a petition to the Secretary of State and of the effect of their so doing.

(5) If within the period referred to in paragraph (d)(i) of subsection (4) above no petition or appeal is presented as aforesaid to the Court of Session, or if any petition or appeal so presented is refused by the Court, the Secretary of State may by statutory instrument make the scheme in the terms in which it was published under subsection (4) above.

(6) If within the said period a petition praying that the scheme be laid before Parliament is presented to the Secretary of State by any of the persons mentioned below, the Secretary of State shall lay the statutory instrument containing the scheme before Parliament, and that statutory instrument shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House thereof.

The persons referred to above are—

(a) the governing body of the endowment to which the scheme relates,

(b) the council of any district directly affected by the scheme,

(c) any education authority directly affected by the scheme,

(d) any ratepayers (not being less than twenty) of any district or place directly affected by the scheme,

(e) any person having a vested interest in the said endowment or any part of it.

(7) If within the said period there is presented to the Court of Session by the governing body of the endowment a petition for amendment of the scheme or for the substitution of a new scheme, the Court may amend the scheme and make it as so amended, or may make a new scheme, and for those purposes the Court of Session shall have the like powers as are conferred by this Part of this Act on the Secretary of State regarding schemes for the future government and management of educational endowments.

(8) If within the said period an appeal is presented to the Court of Session by—

(a) the governing body of the endowment to which the scheme refers, or any other person directly affected by the scheme, on the ground that the scheme is not within the scope of, or is not made in conformity with, this Part of this Act, or

(b) any person holding any office, place or employment, or receiving any pension, compensation, allowance, bursary or emolument, under or arising out of the endowment to which the scheme relates, on the ground that the scheme does not comply with the provisions of this Part of this Act as to saving or making due compensation for his vested interests,

and the Court of Session decides that the scheme is contrary to law on any of the grounds mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) above, the Secretary of State shall not make the scheme but may, if he thinks fit, frame an amended scheme in such form as he thinks expedient, and the provisions of subsections (4) to (7) above, and of this subsection, shall apply in relation to an amended scheme framed under this subsection as they apply to a scheme framed under subsection (3) above.

(9) Where the Secretary of State causes a draft scheme or a scheme to be published under this section, he shall cause to be prefixed to that draft scheme or scheme a memorandum setting out—

(a) the reasons why, in his view, the reorganisation of the endowment to which the draft scheme or scheme relates is necessary;

(b) the respects in which the draft scheme or scheme involves any substantial alteration of the purposes to which the said endowment is applied or applicable ; and

(c) the reasons for any such alteration ;

and for the purposes of the provisions of this section relating to publication, that memorandum shall be deemed to be part of the draft scheme or scheme, as the case may be.