The Education (Groups of Grant–maintained Schools) Regulations 1994

Approval, withdrawal or rejection of proposals

16.—(1) Proposals required to be published under regulations 12 to 15 may not be withdrawn except with the consent of the Secretary of State and subject to such conditions as he may impose (which may, in particular, require further proposals to be published under these Regulations within such period as the Secretary of State may specify).

(2) Subject to paragraph (5) the Secretary of State–

(a) may reject any proposals referred to in paragraph (1);

(b) where the schools in respect of which such proposals are made are eligible for grant–maintained status or have such status on the date of publication of the proposals, may approve them without modification or, after consultation with the existing governing bodies, approve them with such modifications as he thinks desirable.

(3) Where the Secretary of State rejects any such proposals he may require the governing bodies or body to publish further proposals under these Regulations within such period as he may specify.

(4) Where the Secretary of State imposes a requirement under paragraph (1) or (3) for the publication of further proposals regulation 12(2) and Schedule 2 to these Regulations shall apply as they apply in the case mentioned in regulation 12(1) but with the following modifications–

(i) the four month period referred to in regulation 12(2) shall be taken to refer to the period specified by the Secretary of State for submission of the further proposals required; and

(ii) the reference in paragraph 2(1)(a) of Schedule 2 to any ballot shall be taken to refer to the last ballot held in accordance with regulation 6 in relation to a then participating school before the requirement in question was imposed.

(5) Where the Secretary of State modifies any proposals so as to exclude any of the schools from the proposals he may not approve them without the consent of the existing governing bodies of the schools to which the proposals as modified relate.