Education Act 1944

Section 110.

SEVENTH SCHEDULE ADJUSTMENT OF VARIATIONS OF RATES CONSEQUENT UPON COMMENCEMENT OF PART II OF THIS ACT.

PART I

1 For the purposes of this Schedule, the following expressions have the meanings hereby assigned to them, that is to say :—

• " Standard year " means the financial year which ended on the thirty-first day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine;

• " Elementary education authority " means a council which in the standard year was a local education authority for the purposes of elementary education;

• " Standard rateborne expenditure " means, in relation to any elementary education authority, the amount by which the expenditure of the authority in connection with elementary education incurred in the standard year recognised for purposes of grant under regulations made by the Board of Education exceeded the amount of the grant payable under those regulations in respect of that expenditure.

2 The Minister shall ascertain the amount of the standard rateborne expenditure of each elementary education authority in the county, and the amount in the pound of the rate which would have been necessary to raise that amount.

3 The aggregate of the amounts of the standard rateborne expenditure of elementary education authorities in the county ascertained under the last foregoing paragraph shall be deemed to be the total rate charge of the county for elementary education for the standard year, and the Minister shall ascertain the amount in the pound of the rate which would have been required by precept of the county council to be levied by rating authorities for the purpose of meeting that charge if it had fallen to be borne by that council as part of their expenses for general county purposes.

4 The amount in the pound ascertained in respect of any elementary education authority under paragraph 2 of this Schedule is hereinafter referred to as the actual rate poundage of the authority, and the amount in the pound ascertained under paragraph 3 of this Schedule is hereinafter referred to as the notional rate poundage.

5 The Minister shall ascertain in the case of every elementary education authority in the county the amount of the difference between the actual rate poundage of the authority and the notional rate poundage, and where the notional rate poundage exceeds the actual rate poundage of an authority the difference is hereinafter referred to as the rate disadvantage of that authority, and where the notional rate poundage is less than the actual rate poundage of an authority the difference is hereinafter referred to as the rate advantage of that authority.

PART II

1 If the rate disadvantage of any elementary education authority in any county is more than sixpence, but not otherwise, the Minister may, after consultation with the county council, make an order for the county under this Part of this Schedule.

2 Any such order shall come into operation on the date of the commencement of Part II of this Act and no such order shall remain in force after the expiration of the period of five years from that date.

3 The number of years during which (subject to the provisions of the last foregoing paragraph) an order made under this Part of this Schedule shall continue in force shall be the quotient which results from dividing by six the amount of the rate disadvantage of the elementary education authority having the greatest rate disadvantage in the county.

In making any calculation for the purposes of this paragraph, fractions shall be disregarded.

4 An order made under this Part of this Schedule for any county shall provide that in each year during which the order is in force the precepts issued by the county council in accordance with section nine of the [15 & 16 Geo. 5. c. 90.] Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, for general county purposes shall, instead of being of the same amount in the case of each rating authority as required by that section, be increased or decreased by such amount in the pound as may be determined by the order, being an amount calculated, in the case of a precept issued to a rating authority which is an elementary education authority by reference to the rate advantage or disadvantage of that authority, and in the case of a precept issued to any other rating authority by reference to the rate advantage or disadvantage of the county council.

5 The amount by which the precept issued to a rating authority is to be required by the order to be increased or decreased in any financial year shall be a fraction of the rate advantage or disadvantage by reference to which the amount is to be calculated ; and the denominator of the said fraction shall be the total number of years, increased by one, comprised in the period for which the order has effect, and the numerator thereof shall be :—

(a) in the case of the first year for which the order has effect, one less than the denominator, and

(b) in the case of each subsequent year, one less than the numerator in the case of the previous year.