The Education (Budget Statements) (Wales) Regulations 2002

Name, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations are called the Education (Budget Statements) (Wales) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 1st February 2002.

(2) They apply only to Wales.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

• “the 1998 Act” (“Deddf 1998”) means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;

• “the 1999 Regulations” (“Rheoliadau 1999”) means the Financing of Maintained Schools Regulations 1999(1);

• “allocation formula” (“fformwla ddyrannu”) means the authority’s formula under regulation 10 of the 1999 Regulations used to determine schools' budget shares;

• “authority” (“awdurdod”) means a local education authority;

• “budget share” (“cyfran o'r gyllideb”) has the meaning given to it by section 47(1) of the 1998 Act;

• “budget statement” (“datganiad cyllideb”) means the statement referred to in section 52(1) of the 1998 Act;

• “factor” (“ffactor”) means one of the factors or criteria taken into account in the allocation formula;

• “financial year” (“blwyddyn ariannol”) has the meaning given to it by section 579(1) of the Education Act 1996(2);

• “ISB” means an authority’s individual schools budget within the meaning of section 46(2) of the 1998 Act;

• “key stage” (“cyfnod allweddol”) shall be interpreted in accordance with section 355(1) of the Education Act 1996;

• “LEA number” (“rhif AALl”) means the reference number allocated to the authority by the National Assembly or the Secretary of State;

• “middle school” (“ysgol ganol”) has the meaning given to it by section 5(3) of the Education Act 1996(3);

• “the National Assembly” (“y Cynulliad Cenedlaethol”) means the National Assembly for Wales;

• “official reference number” (“rhif cyfeirnod swyddogol”) means the reference number allocated to the school by the National Assembly or the Secretary of State;

• “relevant” (“perthnasol”) in relation to “age” (“oedran”), “age group” (“grŵ p oedran”) and “year group” (“grŵ p blwyddyn”) means an age, age group or year group separately treated in the allocation formula for the purposes of determining that part of each school’s budget share which is to be determined by reference to numbers of registered pupils;

• “school” (“ysgol”) means a maintained school, that is to say a community, foundation or voluntary school or a community or foundation special school;

• “special educational needs” (“anghenion addysgol arbennig”) and “special educational provision” (“darpariaeth addysgol arbennig”) have the meanings given to those expressions by section 312(2) and (4) of the Education Act 1996(4);

• “statement” (“datganiad”) in relation to a pupil with special educational needs means a statement made under section 324(1) of the Education Act 1996; and

• “version number” (“rhif fersiwn”) means a number which distinguishes a particular form submitted by the authority from earlier versions of the form submitted by them.

(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

(a) references to primary or secondary schools do not include special schools; and

(b) references to the number or numbers of registered pupils at one or more schools are references to the number or numbers of such pupils required under the allocation formula to be used for the initial determination of that school’s budget share or those schools' budget shares for the year but ignoring any weighting in accordance with paragraph (7) or any adjustment under paragraph (8) of regulation 11 of the 1999 Regulations.

(3) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered regulation or Schedule is a reference to the regulation or Schedule in these Regulations so numbered.

Revocation and transitional provisions

3.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2) below, the Education (Budget Statements) (Wales) Regulations 1999(5) are revoked.

(2) However, those Regulations shall continue to apply in relation to the financial years beginning on 1st April 1999, 1st April 2000 and 1st April 2001.

Prescribed form of, and information to be contained in, budget statements

4.—(1) A budget statement must be prepared in 3 parts.

(2) Part 1 must be completed in both English and Welsh in the form prescribed in Schedule 1 and must contain the information, with respect to the authority’s planned expenditure for each school for the financial year to which the budget statement relates, specified in the notes in that form;

(3) Part 2 must be completed in both English and Welsh in the form prescribed in Schedule 2 and must contain the information with respect to the authority’s allocation formula for the financial year to which the budget statement relates specified in the notes in that form; and

(4) Part 3 may be completed in English or Welsh (or both) and must contain the information with respect to the budget share of each school for the financial year to which the budget statement relates specified in Schedule 3.

(5) The font size used must not be less than 7pt.

(6) The following information must appear at the top of each Part of a budget statement:

(a) The financial year to which the budget statement relates;

(b) The authority’s name;

(c) The authority’s LEA number;

(d) The version number or the number “1” if it is the first version; and

(e) The date that the form was completed.

(7) For the purpose of completing budget statements, a middle school is to be treated as a primary school or a secondary school, as the case may be, according as to how the school is to be treated for the purpose of determining its budget share under the authority’s allocation formula.

(8) Where a person is carrying out functions on behalf of an authority, the authority shall include information in Parts 1 to 3 of the budget statement as if expenditure by that person in carrying out those functions were expenditure of the authority.

Prescribed manner and time of publication of budget statements

5.—(1) Subject to regulation 6, for the purposes of section 52(3)(b) of the 1998 Act, every budget statement must be published by—

(a) supplying 2 copies to the National Assembly; and

(b) making a copy available for reference by parents and other persons at all reasonable times and without charge at each education office of the authority.

6.—(1) Every budget statement must also be supplied to the National Assembly by electronic mail or in the form of machine readable data on a floppy disc provided for that purpose by the National Assembly.

(2) Any computer language or software used to supply tables must be one which the National Assembly has notified to the authority.

7.—(1) A budget statement must be published before the beginning of the financial year to which it relates.

(2) A budget statement may not be revised during the financial year to which it relates other than to correct errors in the statement as previously published.

(3) A revised budget statement shall be subject to regulations 4, 5, 6, 7(2) and 8.

(4) Nothing in this regulation shall require a revised version of the Welsh text to be prepared if the errors are only in the English text and vice versa.

8.  At the same time as they publish a budget statement in accordance with regulations 5 and 6, the authority must furnish the governing body and head teacher of each school maintained by them with a copy of Parts 1 and 2 of the budget statement and with a copy of that part of Part 3 of the budget statement which relates to the school in question, but if the governing body or the head teacher so request the authority must furnish them with a complete copy of Part 3 of the budget statement.

Signed on behalf of the National Assembly for Wales under section 66(1) of the Government of Wales Act 1998(6)

J. E. Randerson

Assembly Secretary

25th January 2002