EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend a number of regulations so as to relax a number of requirements on schools as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The School Governors’ Annual Reports (Wales) Regulations 2011 (“the Annual Report Regulations”) set out the information that must be published by a school governing body in an annual report. Regulation 2(2) of these Regulations inserts a new regulation into the Annual Report Regulations the effect of which is that the following information for the 2021-2022 school year is not required to be published in any governors’ annual report—
(a)paragraph 6 of Schedule 2 to the Annual Report Regulations (the summary of secondary school performance),
(b)paragraph 7 of Schedule 2 to the Annual Report Regulations (the numbers of authorised and unauthorised pupil absences), and
(c)paragraph 8(b) of Schedule 2 to the Annual Report Regulations (further information relating to authorised and unauthorised pupils absences).
A consequential amendment is also made to regulation 5(2)(a) of the Annual Report Regulations in relation to the requirements of the short form of the annual report.
The School Information (Wales) Regulations 2011 (“the School Information Regulations”) prescribe the school information that must be published by local authorities and schools in a school prospectus. Not all children have attended school throughout the year and many pupils and teachers have worked and studied remotely for periods of time. It is likely that will have a negative impact on the quality of some of the data regulated by the School Information Regulations. It is considered that the data on pupil absences is particularly affected and should not therefore be published in a school prospectus. Therefore, regulation 3 of these Regulations inserts a provision into the School Information Regulations the effect of which is to disapply the obligation on a school governing body to include in any school prospectus the data set out in paragraph 30 of Schedule 3 to those Regulations (data relating to pupil absences) in respect of the 2021-2022 school year.
The Welsh Ministers’ Code of Practice on the carrying out of Regulatory Impact Assessments was considered in relation to these Regulations. As a result, it was not considered necessary to carry out a regulatory impact assessment as to the likely costs and benefits of complying with these Regulations.