The Inspection of the Careers and Related Services (Wales) Regulations 2006

Welsh Statutory Instruments

2006 No. 3103 (W.286)

EDUCATION, WALES

The Inspection of the Careers and Related Services (Wales) Regulations 2006

Made

21 November 2006

Coming into force

1 April 2007

In exercise of the powers conferred on the National Assembly for Wales by sections 55(4), 56(3), 57(7), (9) and (10) and 120(2) of the Education Act 2005(1), the National Assembly for Wales hereby makes the following Regulations:

Title and commencement

1.  The title of these Regulations is the Inspection of the Careers and Related Services (Wales) Regulations 2006 and they come into force on 1 April 2007.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations —

“the 1998 Act” (“Deddf 1998”) means the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998(2),

“the 2005 Act” (“Deddf 2005”) means the Education Act 2005;

“action plan” (“cynllun gwaith”) means the written statement in response to an inspection report referred to in section 57(9) and regulation 6.

“bank holiday” (“gwyl y banc”) means a day which is a bank holiday in Wales under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971(3);

“the Chief Inspector” (“y Prif Arolygydd”) means Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales(4);

“inspection report” (“adroddiad o arolygiad”) means the report on the inspection which the Chief Inspector is required to make under section 57(7);

“service provider” and “relevant provider” have the meanings given by sections 55 and 56, respectively; and

“working day” (“diwrnod gwaith”) means a day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday, or a bank holiday.

(2) Where, under these Regulations, something is required to be done by reference to a period of time calculated from a particular date, the period begins immediately after that date.

(3) References in these Regulations to sections (without more) are references to sections of the 2005 Act.

First inspections

3.—(1) This regulation applies in the case of a service provider or relevant provider who has not previously been inspected either under section 35 or 35A of the 1998 Act(5) or under section 55 or 56.

(2) Where this regulation applies, the service provider or relevant provider is to be inspected under section 55 or 56 (as the case may be), within the period of six years from the date on which the service provider or relevant provider first became such a provider.

Intervals for subsequent inspections

4.—(1) Subject to regulation 3, the Chief Inspector must inspect, under section 55, each service provider, and under section 56 each relevant provider, at intervals of six years.

(2) For the purpose of paragraph (1), intervals run from the date on which the last inspection of the service provider (under section 35 of the 1998 Act or section 55) or relevant provider (under section 35A of the 1998 Act or section 56) was completed.

Period for preparing inspection report

5.  The period within which an inspection report is to be prepared is seventy working days from the date on which the inspection was completed.

Duty to prepare action plan

6.  A person inspected under section 55 or 56 must prepare a written report in response to the report of the inspection setting out the steps which will be taken to address any issues referred to in the inspection report or to implement any recommendations contained in the report, and the time scales for taking those steps or implementing those recommendations (referred to in these Regulations as an “action plan”).

Period for preparing action plan

7.  The period within which a person inspected under section 55 or 56 must prepare an action plan is fifty working days from the date on which the person received a copy of the inspection report under section 57(7)(b).

Provision of copies and publication of inspection reports and action plans

8.—(1) The Chief Inspector must send a copy of an inspection report to the persons specified in paragraph (3) (in addition to those specified in section 57(7)(b)(i), (ii) and (iv) of the 2005 Act).

(2) The person who prepared the action plan must send a copy of it to the persons specified in paragraph (3).

(3) Those persons are —

(a) the Chief Inspector; and

(b) any person who requests a copy.

9.  A copy of the inspection report and action plan must be made available for inspection at the registered or principal office of the service provider or relevant provider inspected, and published on any internet website of that provider.

Signed on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales under section 66(1) of the Government of Wales Act 1998(6).

D. Elis-Thomas

The Presiding Officer of the National Assembly

21 November 2006

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Sections 55 — 57 of the Education Act 2005 make provision for the inspection of the careers and related services in Wales by the Chief Inspector for Education and Training in Wales (Estyn). These services are currently provided by a number of companies limited by guarantee, collectively operating as Careers Wales. The 2005 Act provisions replace provisions formerly contained in the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998. The inspection requirements are tightened and brought more into step with those applying to schools. Sections 55 — 57 provide a framework, leaving the details to be prescribed in regulations made by the National Assembly for Wales. These Regulations prescribe those details.

Regulation 2 defines terms used in the Regulations.

Regulation 3 deals with first inspections. A provider of careers or associated services which has not previously been inspected must be inspected within the period of six years from the date when it first became a provider.

Regulation 4 provides that existing providers are to be inspected at six year intervals. Regulation 5 requires an inspection report to be prepared within seventy working days from completion of the inspection.

Regulation 6 requires an action plan (as described in that regulation) to be prepared following an inspection.

Regulation 7 requires the action plan to be prepared within the period of fifty working days from the date on which the provider received a copy of the inspection report.

Regulations 8 and 9 provide for copies of reports and action plans to be sent to specified persons, and for their publication at the offices of the provider and on the internet.

(1)

2005 c. 18. Sections 55-57 come into force on 1 April 2007: S.I. 2006/1338 (W.130) (C.45). For “prescribed” and “regulations”, see section 55(8).

(2)

1998 c. 30.

(3)

1971 c. 80.

(4)

See section 73 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000, c. 21.

(5)

1998 c. 30. Section 35 was amended by paragraph 77 of Schedule 9 to the Learning and Skills Act 2000, and section 35A was inserted by section 81 of that Act. Both sections are repealed by the 2005 Act, Schedule 19, Part 1, with effect from 1 April 2007: S.I. 2006/1338 (W.130) (C.45).

(6)

1998 c. 38.