With a view to the preparation, in pursuance of the provisions of this Part of this Act, of regional plans for the provision of accommodation for children in the care of local authorities and for the equipment and maintenance of the accommodation, the Secretary of State may by order provide that any area specified in the order shall be a separate area (in this Act referred to as a " planning area ") for the purposes of those provisions.

Before making an order under subsection (1) above, the Secretary of State shall consult each local authority whose area or any part of whose area is included in the planning area which he proposes should be specified in the order and such other local authorities, if any, as he thinks fit.

It shall be the duty of the local authorities whose areas are wholly or partly included in a planning area (in this Act referred to, in relation to such an area, as " the relevant authorities") to establish for the area, within such period as may be provided by the order specifying the planning area or such longer period as the Secretary of State may allow, a body to be called the children's regional planning committee.

The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect in relation to children's regional planning committees.

The children's regional planning committee for a planning area (in this and section 33 of this Act referred to as " the committee ") shall prepare and submit to the Secretary of State, in accordance with the following provisions of this section, a plan (in this Act referred to as a " regional plan") for the provision and maintenance of homes, to be known as community homes, for the accommodation and maintenance of children in the care of the relevant authorities.

Where a regional plan makes provision for any such voluntary home as is referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (2) above, the plan shall designate the home as either a controlled community home or an assisted community home, according as it is proposed in the plan that the management, equipment and maintenance of the home should be the responsibility of one of the relevant authorities or of the voluntary organisation by which the home is provided.

Before including provision in a regional plan that a community home should be provided by any of the relevant authorities or that a voluntary home provided by a voluntary organisation should be designated as a controlled or assisted community home, the committee shall obtain the consent of the authority or voluntary organisation by which the home is or is to be provided and, in the case of a home which is to be designated as a controlled or assisted community home, the consent of the local authority which it is proposed should be specified in the instrument of management for the home.

A regional plan shall be prepared in such form and shall contain such information as the Secretary of State may direct, either generally or in relation to a particular planning area or particular kinds of plans ; and the Secretary of State may direct that the regional plan for a particular planning area shall be submitted to him within such period as may be specified in the direction or such longer period as he may allow.

After considering any regional plan submitted to him under section 32 of this Act and after making in .the plan such modifications (if any) as he may agree with the committee by which the plan was submitted and as he may consider appropriate for securing that the plan makes proper provision for the accommodation and maintenance of children in the care of the relevant authorities, the Secretary of State may approve the plan.

Where the Secretary of State considers that, either with or without such modifications as are referred to in subsection (1) above, part but not the whole of a plan submitted to him under section 32 of this Act makes proper provision for the accommodation and maintenance of the children to whom that part of the plan relates, the Secretary of State may approve that part of the plan.

Where the Secretary of State has approved part only of a regional plan, the committee for the planning area concerned shall prepare and submit to him under section 32 of this Act a further regional plan containing proposals to supplement that part of the previous plan which was approved by the Secretary of State.

Where the Secretary of State approves a regional plan, in whole or in part, he shall give notice in writing of his approval to the committee for the planning area concerned specifying the date on which the plan is to come into operation, and the committee shall send a copy of the notice to each of the relevant authorities and to any voluntary organisation whose consent was required to any provision of the plan.

The Secretary of State may by order make an instrument of management providing for the constitution of a body of managers for any voluntary home which, in accordance with a regional plan approved by him, is designated as a controlled or assisted community home.

An instrument of management under this section shall come into force on such date as may be specified in the instrument, and if such an instrument is in force in relation to a voluntary home the home shall be and be known as a controlled community home or an assisted community home, according to its designation in the regional plan.

An instrument of management for a controlled or assisted community home shall contain such provisions as the Secretary of State considers appropriate for giving effect to the provisions of the regional plan by which the home is designated as a controlled or assisted community home, but nothing in the instrument of management for such a home shall affect the purposes for which the premises comprising the home are held.

Subject to subsection (1) above, in the event of any inconsistency between the provisions of any trust deed and the instrument of management relating to a controlled or assisted community home, the instrument of management shall prevail over the provisions of the trust deed in so far as they relate to that home.

After consultation with the voluntary organisation by which a controlled or assisted community home is provided and with the local authority specified in the instrument of management for the time being in force for that home, the Secretary of State may vary or revoke any provisions of that instrument of management by a further instrument of management.

In this Act the expression " trust deed in relation to a voluntary home, means any instrument (other than an instrument of management) regulating the maintenance, management or conduct of the home or the constitution of a body of managers or trustees of the home.

The management, equipment and maintenance of a controlled community home shall be the responsibility of the local authority specified in the instrument of management for that home, and in the following provisions of this section "the responsible authority ", in relation to such a home, means the local authority responsible for its management, equipment and maintenance.

Subject to the following provisions of this section, the responsible authority shall exercise their functions in relation to a controlled community home through the body of managers constituted by the instrument of management for the home, and anything done, liability incurred or property acquired by the managers shall be done, incurred or acquired by the managers as agents of the responsible authority.

In so far as any matter is reserved for the decision of the responsible authority, either by subsection (4) below or by the instrument of management for the controlled community home in question or by the service by the responsible authority on the managers or any of them of a notice reserving any matter, that matter shall be dealt with by the responsible authority themselves and not by the managers, but in dealing with any matter so reserved the responsible authority shall have regard to any representations made to them by the managers.

The employment of persons at a controlled community home shall be a matter reserved for the decision of the responsible authority, but where the instrument of management so provides the responsible authority may enter into arrangements with the voluntary organisation by which the home is provided whereby, in accordance with such terms as may be agreed between the responsible authority and the voluntary organisation, persons who are not in the employment of the responsible authority shall undertake duties at the home.

The accounting year of the managers of a controlled community home shall be such as may be specified by the responsible authority and, before such date in each accounting year as may be so specified, the managers of a controlled community home shall submit to the responsible authority estimates, in such form as the authority may require, of expenditure and receipts in respect of the next accounting year ; and any expenses incurred by the managers of a controlled community home with the approval of the responsible authority shall be defrayed by that authority.

The managers of a controlled community home shall keep proper accounts in respect of that home and proper records in relation to the accounts, but where an instrument of management relates to more than one controlled community home, one set of accounts and records may be kept in respect of all the homes to which the instrument relates.

The management, equipment and maintenance of an assisted community home shall be the responsibility of the voluntary organisation by which the home is provided, and in the following provisions of this section " the responsible organisation ", in relation to such a home, means the voluntary organisation responsible for its management, equipment and maintenance.

Subject to the following provisions of this section, the responsible organisation shall exercise its functions in relation to the home through the body of managers constituted by the instrument of management for the home, and any thing done, liability incurred or property acquired by the managers shall be done, incurred or acquired by the managers as agents of the responsible organisation.

In so far as any matter is reserved for the decision of the responsible organisation, either by subsection (4) below or by the instrument of management for the assisted community home in question or by the service by the responsible organisation on the managers or any of them of a notice reserving any matter, that matter shall be dealt with by the responsible organisation itself and not by the managers, but in dealing with any matter so reserved the responsible organisation shall have regard to any representations made to the organisation by the managers.

The accounting year of the managers of an assisted community home shall be such as may be specified by the responsible organisation and, before such date in each accounting year as may be so specified, the managers of an assisted community home shall submit to the responsible organisation estimates, in such form as the organisation may require, of expenditure and receipts in respect of the next accounting year; and all expenses incurred by the managers of an assisted community home with the approval of the responsible organisation shall be defrayed by the organisation.

The managers of an assisted community home shall keep proper accounts in respect of that home and proper records in relation to those accounts, but where an instrument of management relates to more than one assisted community home, one set of accounts and records may be kept in respect of all the homes to which the instrument relates.

The Secretary of State may make regulations with respect to the conduct of community homes and for securing the welfare of the children in community homes.

Without prejudice to the power to make regulations under this section conferring functions on the local authority or voluntary organisation by which a community home is provided or on the managers of a controlled or assisted community home, regulations under this section may confer functions in relation to a controlled or assisted community home on the local authority named in the instrument of management for the home.

Where it appears to the Secretary of State that any premises used for the purposes of a community home are unsuitable for those purposes, or that the conduct of a community home is not in accordance with regulations made by him under section 39 of this Act or is otherwise unsatisfactory, he may by notice in writing served on the responsible body, direct that as from such date as may be specified in the notice the premises shall not be used for the purposes of a community home.

Where the Secretary of State has given a direction in relation to a controlled or assisted community home under subsection (1) above and the direction has not been revoked, the Secretary of State may at any time by order revoke the instrument of management for that home.

Subject to subsection (5) below, where any dispute relating to a controlled community home arises between the local authority specified in the instrument of management and either the voluntary organisation by which the home is provided or any other local authority who have placed, or desire or are required to place, a child in their care in the home, the dispute may be referred by either party to the Secretary of State for his determination.

Subject to subsection (5) below, where any dispute relating to an assisted community home arises between the voluntary organisation by which the home is provided and any local authority who have placed, or desire to place, a child in their care in the home, the dispute may be referred by either party to the Secretary of State for his determination.

Where a dispute is referred to the Secretary of State under this section he may, in order to give effect to his determination of the dispute, give such directions as he thinks fit to the local authority or voluntary organisation concerned.

The provisions of this section shall apply notwithstanding that the matter in dispute may be one which, under or by virtue of the preceding provisions of this Part of this Act, is reserved for the decision, or is the responsibility, of the local authority specified in the instrument of management or, as the case may be, the voluntary organisation by which the home is provided.

Where any trust deed relating to a controlled or assisted community home contains provision whereby a bishop or any other ecclesiastical or denominational authority has power to decide questions relating to religious instruction given in the home, no dispute which is capable of being dealt with in accordance with that provision shall be referred to the Secretary of State under this section.

The voluntary organisation by which a controlled or assisted community home is provided shall not cease to provide the home except after giving to the Secretary of State and the local authority specified in the instrument of management not less than two years' notice in writing of their intention to do so.

A notice under subsection (1) above shall specify the date from which the voluntary organisation intends to cease to provide the home as a community home; and where such a notice is given and is not withdrawn before the date specified in it, then, subject to subsection (4) below, the instrument of management for the home shall cease to have effect on that date and accordingly the home shall then cease to be a controlled or assisted community home.

Where a notice is given under subsection (1) above, the local authority to whom the notice is given shall inform the children's regional planning committee responsible for the regional plan under which the voluntary home in question was designated as a controlled or assisted community home of the receipt and content of the notice.

Where the instrument of management for a controlled or assisted community home ceases to have effect by virtue either of an order under subsection (2) of section 40 of this Act or of subsection (2) or subsection (4)(a) of section 43 of this Act, the voluntary organisation by which the home was provided or, if the premises used for the purposes of the home are not vested in that organisation, the persons in whom those premises are vested (in this section referred to as " the trustees of the home"), shall become liable, in accordance with the following provisions of this section, to make repayment in respect of any increase in the value of the premises and other property belonging to the voluntary organisation or the trustees of the home which is attributable to the expenditure of public money thereon.

For the purposes of subsection (2) above, "relevant premises", in relation to a controlled or assisted community home, means premises used for the purposes of the home and belonging to the voluntary organisation or the trustees of the home but erected, extended or improved, at any time while the home was a controlled community home, by the local authority having, at that time, such responsibility in relation to the home as is mentioned in that subsection.

The provisions of this section shall have effect notwithstanding anything in any trust deed for a controlled or assisted community home and notwithstanding the provisions of any enactment or instrument governing the disposition of the property of a voluntary organisation.

Any sums received by the Secretary of State under this section shall be paid into the Consolidated Fund.