Self-Governing Schools etc. (Scotland) Act 1989

27 Recurrent grant in respect of provision for special educational needs. S

(1) For each financial year, recurrent grant payable in respect of any self-governing school—

(a) which is a special school; or

(b) (in the case of a school which is not a special school) in so far as is attributable to expenditure for the purpose of making provision for pupils in attendance at the school who are persons whose needs are recorded by the education authority under section 60(2) of the 1980 Act (record of needs),

shall be determined having regard to the following provisions of this section.

(2) The education authority and the board of management shall attempt to reach agreement as to—

(a) in the case of a special school, what educational and other provision is to be made in the financial year for the pupils in attendance at the school, the estimated cost of that provision and the estimated expenditure incurred or to be incurred for the purposes of the board’s other functions under section 7(1) of this Act in that year;

(b) in any other case, what provision is to be made in that year for such pupils as are mentioned in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) above and the estimated cost of that provision;

and any such agreement, or a failure to reach such agreement, shall be timeously intimated by the board of management to the Secretary of State.

(3) If intimation under subsection (2) above is of a failure to reach agreement or if the Secretary of State does not accept any aspect of an intimated agreement, he shall himself determine the matters mentioned in paragraph (a), or as the case may be (b), of subsection (2) above in determining under section 26(2) of this Act the amount of recurrent grant payable in respect of the school; and his determination as to the said matters shall (without prejudice to the provision made by the said section 26(2) as to revision) be final.

(4) In determining under section 26(2) of this Act the amount of recurrent grant payable in respect of a school, the Secretary of State shall, where he does not make a determination under subsection (3) above, regard an agreement intimated under subsection (2) above as determining the matters to which it relates.

(5) Grant regulations may prescribe—

(a) what information is to be—

(i) exchanged between an education authority and a board of management for the purposes of their duty under subsection (2) above or for the purposes of subsection (6) below;

(ii) provided to the Secretary of State by the authority and the board for the purposes of his considering any agreement intimated to him under that subsection or subsection (7) below or himself making a determination under subsection (3) above or a variation under subsection (9) below;

(b) the dates by which, in respect of any financial year, such information as is mentioned in paragraph (a) above is to be provided;

(c) the latest date by which, in respect of any financial year, any agreement, or failure to reach agreement, is to be intimated to the Secretary of State under subsection (2) above.

(6) In a case where an amount of recurrent grant payable has been determined in accordance with subsection (4) above, the education authority and the board of management during the course of the financial year—

(a) may agree; and

(b) if the Secretary of State so requires, shall attempt to reach agreement as to,

a variation of their agreement under subsection (2) above.

(7) The board of management shall intimate to the Secretary of State any variation agreed under subsection (6) above or (in the case of a requirement imposed under paragraph (b) of that subsection) any failure to reach agreement as to such variation.

(8) The Secretary of State shall, where he accepts an agreed variation intimated under subsection (7) above, vary the amount of recurrent grant payable accordingly.

(9) Where the Secretary of State does not accept an agreed variation so intimated, or where he has imposed a requirement under subsection (6) above but the education authority and the board of management are unable to agree on a variation of their agreement under subsection (2) above, he may himself vary the amount of recurrent grant payable but he shall not otherwise vary that amount in a case such as is mentioned in subsection (6) above.