12Committees.
(1)Each county council reconstituted in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and the town council of each burgh being a county of a city shall have a committee, to be known as the education committee, and to be constituted in accordance with a scheme made by the council and the provisions of subsection (1) (including the proviso thereto) and subsections (8), (9), and (10) of section fourteen of this Act shall, with the substitution of the Scottish Education Department for the Secretary of State and of the fifteenth day of January for the thirty-first day of March and any other necessary modifications apply to a scheme under this subsection. The Scottish Education Department before approving such a scheme shall require the council to publish the scheme in such manner as to make the same known to persons interested.
(2)Every such reconstituted county council shall appoint committees for the purposes of their functions relating to (a) police and (b) poor law, and any reference in any Act to the police committee shall be construed as a reference to the first-mentioned committee.
(3)(a)Except where for the purpose of coordinating the services provided by the council it is otherwise specified in the appropriate administrative scheme, all matters relating to the exercise by a county council of their functions (other than functions relating to the raising of money by rate or loan) relating to (a) education, (b) police, and (c) poor law, shall stand referred to the appropriate committee, and all matters relating to the exercise by the town council of a burgh being a county of a city of their functions (other than as aforesaid) relating to education, shall stand referred to the education committee, and the county or town council, as the case may be, before exercising any such functions, shall, unless in their opinion the matter is urgent, receive and consider the report of the appropriate committee with respect to the matter in question.
(b)All matters relating to the provision of instruction in religion in terms of section seven of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, shall stand referred to the education committee and the council, before exercising any function relating to such instruction shall, unless in their opinion the matter is urgent, receive and consider the report of the education committee with respect to the matter in question.
(c)Save as otherwise provided in this section, the county or town council may also delegate to the appropriate committee with or without any restrictions or conditions as they think fit any of the aforesaid functions. Where a county or town council delegate to their education committee the power of dismissing a certificated teacher from their service, the provisions of subsection (1) of section twenty-four of the [8 & 9 Geo. 5. c. 48.] Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, shall apply with the substitution of the education committee for the education authority.
(4)Every scheme constituting an education committee shall provide—
(a)for the appointment by the county or town council of at least a majority of the committee from persons who are members of the council;
(b)for the appointment by the council of persons of experience in education and of persons acquainted with the needs of the various kinds of schools in the area for which the council act, including—
(i)in all cases at least two persons interested in the promotion of religious instruction in terms of section seven of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, to be nominated by a meeting of representatives of the churches or denominational bodies (other than those having a right to nominate as hereinafter in this paragraph provided for) having duly constituted charges or other regularly appointed places of worship within the area, and the scheme shall prescribe the constitution of the meeting and the manner of convening it; and
(ii)in the case of a council maintaining any school transferred or established under section eighteen of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, to which school the conditions prescribed in subsection (3) of the said section continue to apply, at least one representative nominated by the church or denominational body by whom the teachers in the school are required to be approved as regards religious belief and character;
(c)for the inclusion of women as well as men among the members of the committee; and
(d)as respects the first education committee to be appointed, for the inclusion of one or more members of the outgoing education authority.
(5)Any committee of a town council (other than an education committee or a school management committee under section three of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918) which is appointed for the purpose of any function to which an administrative scheme under this Act applies, may to an extent not exceeding one-third of the members consist of persons (not being members of the council) who have special knowledge or experience in regard to the functions of the committee, and any committee appointed by a town council for the purposes of poor law within one year after the commencement of this Act, shall include one or more members of outgoing parish councils.
(6)No county or town council shall delegate to any committee the power of raising money by rate or loan or of incurring capital expenditure.
(7)Subject to any regulations or directions by the county or town council, any committee of the council appointed for the purpose of any function to which an administrative scheme under this Act applies may appoint sub-Committees and may delegate to such subcommittees any of the functions of the committee, and any such sub-committee may consist in part of persons not being members of the committee, but at least two-thirds of the members of any such sub-committee shall be members of the council:
Provided that—
(i)a person who is not a member of the council or of the committee shall not be appointed to any sub-committee except with the consent of the council;
(ii)a sub-committee of the education committee of a council may consist, to an extent not exceeding one half, of persons who are not members of the council;
(iii)the education committee of a council shall not so delegate any function in regard to—
(a)the appointment, transfer, remuneration or dismissal of teachers; or
(b)the appointment of bursars or the exercise of the functions under section four of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918; or
(c)the recognition, establishment or discontinuance of schools or of centres of advanced technical instruction; and
(iv)the provisions of this subsection requiring a minimum number of the members of a subcommittee to be members of the council shall not apply in the case of a sub-committee appointed by a school management committee.
(8)Subsection (2) of section nine of the Act of 1889 (which relates to disqualification for being councillors) shall have effect as if any reference to the committee therein mentioned included a reference to any committee and to any sub-committee of the county council, and section thirteen of the [63 & 64 Vict. c. 49.] Town Councils (Scotland) Act, 1900 (other than paragraphs (1) and (2) thereof), shall have effect as if references to the council and to a councillor respectively included references to any committee and any sub-committee of the town council and to a member of any such committee or sub-committee:
Provided that nothing in this subsection shall apply as regards the appointment of teachers to a school management committee in pursuance of section three of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918.
(9)This section shall come into operation on the third day of December, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine.