Further and Higher Education Act 1992

Further functions

8 Supplementary functions

(1) Each council—

(a) shall provide the Secretary of State with such information or advice relating to the provision for the population of their area of further education as he may from time to time require, and

(b) may provide the Secretary of State with such information or advice relating to such provision as they think fit,

and information and advice provided under this subsection shall be provided in such manner as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine.

(2) Each council shall keep under review the matters in respect of which they have power under this Part of this Act to give financial support.

(3) Where in the case of an institution within the further education sector or which provides any facilities for further education, the Secretary of State has, before the date on which the councils were established, made any grant, loan or other payment to the institution subject to any terms or conditions—

(a) all the functions of the Secretary of State in relation to the grant, loan or other payment shall, if the Secretary of State so directs, be exercisable on his behalf by a council in accordance with such directions as he may give from time to time,

(b) the council shall keep the Secretary of State informed of any action they take or propose to take in the exercise of those functions, and

(c) the council shall immediately pay to the Secretary of State any sums received by them in the exercise of those functions.

(4) The Secretary of State may by order confer or impose on a council such supplementary functions relating to the provision of education as he thinks fit.

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4) above a function is a supplementary function in relation to a council if it is exercisable for the purposes of—

(a) the exercise by the Secretary of State of functions of his under any enactment, or

(b) the doing by the Secretary of State of anything he has power to do apart from any enactment,

and it is relevant to the provision of facilities for further education for the population of the council’s area.

9 Assessment of quality of education provided by institutions

(1) Each council shall—

(a) secure that provision is made for assessing the quality of education provided in institutions within the further education sector, and

(b) establish a committee, to be known as the “Quality Assessment Committee”, with the function of giving them advice on the discharge of their duty under paragraph (a) above and such other functions as may be conferred on the committee by the council.

(2) The majority of the members of the committee—

(a) shall be persons falling within subsection (3) below, and

(b) shall not be members of the council.

(3) Persons fall within this subsection if they appear to the council to have experience of, and to have shown capacity in, the provision of further education and, in appointing such persons, the council shall have regard to the desirability of their being currently engaged in the provision of further education or in carrying responsibility for such provision.

(4) Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools in Wales shall, if asked to do so by the Further Education Funding Council for Wales, assess the quality of education provided in any institutions within the further education sector or any other institutions for which the council give, or are considering giving, financial support under this Part of this Act.

(5) Schedule 1 to this Act shall apply to a committee established under this section as it applies to committees established under paragraph 8 of that Schedule.