Education Act 1973

2 Special powers as to certain trusts for religious education

(1) Where the premises of a voluntary school have ceased (before or after the corning into force of this section) to be used for a voluntary school, or in the opinion of the Secretary of State it is likely they will cease to be so used, then subject to subsections (2) to (4) below he may by order made by statutory instrument make new provision as to the use of any endowment shown to his satisfaction to be or have been held wholly or partly for or in connection with the provision at the school of religious education in accordance with the tenets of a particular religious denomination; and for purposes of this section "endowment" includes property not subject to any restriction on the expenditure of capital.

(2) No order shall be made under subsection (1) above except on the application of the persons appearing to the Secretary of State to be the appropriate authority of the denomination concerned ; and the Secretary of State shall, not less than one month before making an order under that subsection, give notice of the proposed order and of the right of persons interested to make representations on it, and shall take into account any representations that may be made to him by any person interested therein before the order is made ; and the notice shall be given—

(a) by giving to any persons appearing to the Secretary of State to be trustees of an endowment affected by the proposed order a notice of the proposal to make it, together with a draft or summary of the provisions proposed to be included; and

(b) by publishing in such manner as the Secretary of State thinks sufficient for informing any other persons interested a notice of the proposal to make the order and of the place where any person interested may (during a period of not less than a month) inspect such a draft or summary, and by keeping a draft or summary available for inspection in accordance with the notice.

(3) An order under subsection (1) above may require or authorise the disposal by sale or otherwise of any land or other property forming part of an endowment affected by the order, including the premises of the school and any teacher's dwelling-house ; and in the case of land liable to revert under the third proviso to section 2 of the [1841 c. 38.] School Sites Act 1841 the Secretary of State may by order exclude the operation of that proviso, if he is satisfied either—

(a) that the person to whom the land would revert in accordance with the proviso cannot after due enquiry be found; or

(b) that, if that person can be found, he has consented to relinquish his rights in relation to the land under the proviso and that, if he has consented so to do in consideration of the payment of a sum of money to him, adequate provision can be made for the payment to him of that sum out of the proceeds of disposal of the land.

(4) Subject to subsection (3) above and to any provision affecting the endowments of any public general Act of Parliament, an order under subsection (1) above shall establish and give effect, with a view to enabling the denomination concerned to participate more effectively in the administration of the statutory system of public education, to a scheme or schemes for the endowments dealt with by the order to be used for appropriate educational purposes, either in connection with voluntary schools or partly in connection with voluntary schools and partly in other ways related to the locality served or formerly served by the voluntary school at the premises that have gone or are to go out of use for such a school; and for this purpose " use for appropriate educational purposes " means use for educational purposes in connection with the provision of religious education in accordance with the tenets of the denomination concerned.

(5) A scheme given effect under this section may provide for the retention of the capital of any endowment and application of the accruing income or may authorise the application or expenditure of capital to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be determined by or in accordance with the scheme; and any such scheme may provide for the endowments thereby dealt with or any part of them to be added to any existing endowment applicable for any such purpose as is authorised for the scheme by subsection (4) above.

(6) An order under subsection (1) above may include any such incidental or supplementary provisions as appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient either for the bringing into force or for the operation of any scheme thereby established, including in particular provisions for the appointment and powers of trustees of the property comprised in the scheme or, if the property is not all applicable for the same purposes, of any part of that property, and for the property or any part of it to vest by virtue of the scheme in the first trustees under the scheme or trustees of any endowment to which it is to be added or, if not so vested, to be transferred to them.

(7) Any order under this section shall have effect notwithstanding any Act of Parliament (not being a public general Act), letters patent or other instrument relating to, or trust affecting, the endowments dealt with by the order; but section 15(3) of the [1960 c. 58.] Charities Act 1960 (by virtue of which the court and the Charity Commissioners may exercise their jurisdiction in relation to charities mentioned in Schedule 4 to the Act notwithstanding that the charities are governed by the Acts or statutory schemes there mentioned) shall have effect as if at the end of paragraph 1 (b) of Schedule 4 to the Act there were added the words " or by schemes given effect under section 2 of the Education Act 1973. ".

(8) This section shall apply where the premises of a non-provided public elementary school ceased before 1st April 1945 to be used for such a school as it applies where the premises of a voluntary school have ceased to be used for a voluntary school.

(9) This section shall be construed, and the Education Acts 1944 to 1971 shall have effect, as if this section were contained in the [1944 c. 31.] Education Act 1944.