(1)In exercising their functions under sections 2 and 3 of this Act, each council shall (subject to the provisions of those sections) do so in accordance with subsections (2) to (4) below.
(2)Each council shall have regard to the requirements of persons having learning difficulties.
(3)A council shall, if they are satisfied in the case of any person among the population of their area who has a learning difficulty and is over compulsory school age but has not attained the age of twenty-five years, that—
(a)the facilities available in institutions within the further education sector or the higher education sector are not adequate for him, and
(b)it is in his best interests to do so,
secure provision for him at an institution outside those sectors.
(4)A council shall, if they are satisfied that they cannot secure such provision for a person as they are required to secure under subsection (3) above unless they also secure the provision of boarding accommodation for him, secure the provision of boarding accommodation for him.
(5)In exercising their functions under sections 2 and 3 of this Act in the case of any person who has a learning difficulty and is over compulsory school age, a council may—
(a)if they are satisfied that the facilities available in institutions within the further education sector or the higher education sector are not adequate for him, secure provision for him at an institution outside those sectors, and
(b)secure the provision of boarding accommodation for him.
(6)Subject to subsection (7) below, for the purposes of this section a person has a “learning difficulty” if—
(a)he has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of persons of his age, or
(b)he has a disability which either prevents or hinders him from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided by institutions within the further education sector for persons of his age.
(7)A person is not to be taken as having a learning difficulty solely because the language (or form of the language) in which he is, or will be, taught is different from a language (or form of a language) which has at any time been spoken in his home.