Office of Public Sector Information
Section 188
1 In section 2(1) of the School Inspections Act 1996 (c. 57) (matters of which the Chief Inspector for England is required to keep the Secretary of State informed) for paragraph (c) there is substituted—
“(c) the quality of the leadership in and management of those schools, including whether the financial resources made available to those schools are managed efficiently;”.
2 In section 5(1) of that Act (matters of which the Chief Inspector for Wales is required to keep the National Assembly informed) for paragraph (c) there is substituted—
“(c) the quality of the leadership in and management of those schools, including whether the financial resources made available to those schools are managed efficiently;”.
3 In section 10(5) of that Act (matters on which a registered inspector conducting an inspection under that section must report) for paragraph (c) there is substituted—
“(c) the quality of the leadership in and management of the school, including whether the financial resources made available to the school are managed efficiently;”.
4 In section 12 of that Act (inspections by members of the Inspectorate) for subsection (1) there is substituted—
“(1) In any case where, by virtue of section 10, an inspection of a school is required to be carried out by a registered inspector, the Chief Inspector may, if he considers it expedient to do so, secure that the school is instead inspected by a member of the Inspectorate.”
5 In paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to that Act (teams for assisting with inspections under section 10) for sub-paragraph (1) there is substituted—
“(1) Every inspection shall be conducted by a registered inspector with the assistance of a team (an “inspection team”); and no person shall act as a member of an inspection team unless—
(a) he is enrolled in the list kept by the Chief Inspector under paragraph 3A; or
(b) he is a member of the Inspectorate and (if he is not the Chief Inspector) is authorised so to act by the Chief Inspector.”
6 In paragraph 3A of that Schedule (enrolment of persons to act as team members) for sub-paragraph (1) there is substituted—
“(1) The Chief Inspector shall keep a list of persons who may act as members of an inspection team by virtue of paragraph 3(1)(a) (“the list”).”
7 In section 16(3) of that Act (persons to whom reports must invariably be sent), after sub-paragraph (d) there is inserted “and
(da) in such circumstances as may be prescribed, to such other persons (if any) as may be prescribed.”
8 In section 17 of that Act (special measures by appropriate authority)—
(a) in subsection (3) (persons to whom action plan must be sent), at the beginning there is inserted “Subject to subsection (3A),”; and
(b) after that subsection there is inserted—
“(3A) Where the report in question is a report of a section 10 inspection of the school, subsection (3)(a) does not require a copy of the statement to be sent to the Chief Inspector unless the report states that the person making it is of the opinion—
(a) that special measures are required to be taken in relation to the school; or
(b) that the school had serious weaknesses (within the meaning of section 15(4) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998).”
9 (1) Schedule 1 to that Act (Her Majesty’s Chief Inspectors) is amended as follows.
(2) In paragraph 1 (power of Chief Inspector to appoint staff with approval of Treasury or National Assembly), for “the Treasury” there is substituted “the Minister for the Civil Service or (in the case of the Chief Inspector for Wales) the National Assembly for Wales”.
(3) In paragraph 2(3) (arrangements for persons other than staff to assist Chief Inspector require agreement of Treasury or National Assembly), for “the Treasury” there is substituted “the Minister for the Civil Service or (in the case of the Chief Inspector for Wales) the National Assembly for Wales”.
Section 189
1 (1) Section 23 of the Education Act 1997 (c. 44) (functions of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in relation to curriculum and assessment) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1) for the words from “with respect to” to the end there is substituted “with respect to—
(a) pupils at maintained schools in England who have not ceased to be of compulsory school age,
(b) pupils at maintained nursery schools in England, and
(c) children for whom funded nursery education is provided in England otherwise than at a maintained school or maintained nursery school.”
(3) In subsection (2)—
(a) in paragraph (a), for “such schools” there is substituted “maintained schools or maintained nursery schools”, and
(b) paragraph (f) and the word “and” immediately preceding it are omitted.
(4) After subsection (2) there is inserted—
“(2A) In subsection (2) references to the curriculum for a maintained nursery school include references to the curriculum for any funded nursery education provided as mentioned in subsection (1)(c); and references to assessment in schools include references to assessment in funded nursery education.”
(5) Subsections (3) and (4) are omitted.
(6) In subsection (5), after “test;” there is inserted—
““funded nursery education” has the meaning given by section 77 of the Education Act 2002;”.
2 In section 24 of the Education Act 1997 (functions of Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in relation to external vocational and academic qualifications), after subsection (2) there is inserted—
“(2A) In paragraph (f) of subsection (2) “criteria” includes criteria that are to be applied for the purpose of ensuring that the number of different accredited qualifications in similar subject areas or serving similar functions is not excessive; and paragraph (g) of that subsection is to be construed accordingly.”
3 (1) Section 26 of the Education Act 1997 (supplementary provisions relating to discharge by Authority of their functions) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (3), the words “or approve” and the words “and subject to such conditions” are omitted.
(3) After that subsection there is inserted—
“(3A) Where in carrying out those functions the Authority accredit any qualification, they may, at the time of accreditation or later, impose such conditions on accreditation or continued accreditation as they may determine.”
(4) In subsection (4), for paragraph (b) there is substituted—
“(b) requiring rights of entry to premises and to inspect and copy documents so far as necessary for the Authority—
(i) to satisfy themselves that the appropriate standards are being maintained, in relation to the award or authentication of the qualification in question, by the persons receiving the accreditation, or
(ii) to determine whether to impose a condition falling within paragraph (a) and if so what that condition should be.”
4 After section 26 of the Education Act 1997 (c. 44) there is inserted—
(1) If it appears to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority—
(a) that any person (in this section referred to as “the awarding body”) who, either alone or jointly with others, awards or authenticates any qualification accredited by the Authority has failed or is likely to fail to comply with any condition subject to which the accreditation has effect, and
(b) that the failure—
(i) prejudices or would be likely to prejudice the proper award or authentication of the qualification, or
(ii) prejudices or would be likely to prejudice persons who might reasonably be expected to seek to obtain the qualification,
the Authority may direct the awarding body to take or refrain from taking specified steps with a view to securing compliance with the conditions subject to which the accreditation has effect.
(2) It shall be the duty of the awarding body to comply with any direction under this section.
(3) Any direction under this section is enforceable, on the application of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority—
(a) in England and Wales, by a mandatory order, or
(b) in Northern Ireland, by an order of mandamus.”
5 (1) Section 29 of the Education Act 1997 (functions of the Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales in relation to curriculum and assessment) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (1) for the words from “with respect to” to the end there is substituted “with respect to—
(a) pupils at maintained schools in Wales who have not ceased to be of compulsory school age,
(b) pupils at maintained nursery schools in Wales, and
(c) children for whom funded nursery education is provided in Wales otherwise than at a maintained school or maintained nursery school.”
(3) In subsection (2)—
(a) in paragraph (a), for “such schools” there is substituted “maintained schools or maintained nursery schools”, and
(b) paragraph (f) and the word “and” immediately preceding it are omitted.
(4) After subsection (2) there is inserted—
“(2A) In subsection (2) references to the curriculum for a maintained nursery school include references to the curriculum for any funded nursery education provided as mentioned in subsection (1)(c); and references to assessment in schools include references to assessment in funded nursery education.”
(5) Subsections (3) and (4) are omitted.
(6) At the end of subsection (5) there is inserted “; and “funded nursery education” has the meaning given by section 98 of the Education Act 2002;”.
6 In any order made before the commencement of this paragraph under section 30(1) of the Education Act 1997 (c. 44) (power to confer functions on Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales) any reference to functions falling within paragraph (f) of section 24(2) of that Act is to be taken to be a reference to those functions as extended by virtue of paragraph 2 of this Schedule.
7 (1) Section 32 of the Education Act 1997 (supplementary provisions relating to discharge by Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales of their functions) is amended as follows.
(2) In subsection (3), the words “or approve” and the words “and subject to such conditions” are omitted.
(3) After that subsection there is inserted—
“(3A) Where in carrying out those functions the Authority accredit any qualification, they may, at the time of accreditation or later, impose such conditions on accreditation or continued accreditation as they may determine.”
(4) In subsection (4), for paragraph (b) there is substituted—
“(b) requiring rights of entry to premises and to inspect and copy documents so far as necessary for the Authority—
(i) to satisfy themselves that the appropriate standards are being maintained, in relation to the award or authentication of the qualification in question, by the persons receiving the accreditation, or
(ii) to determine whether to impose a condition falling within paragraph (a) and if so what that condition should be.”
8 After section 32 of the Education Act 1997 there is inserted—
(1) If it appears to the Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales—
(a) that any person (in this section referred to as “the awarding body”) who, either alone or jointly with others, awards or authenticates any qualification accredited by the Authority has failed or is likely to fail to comply with any condition subject to which the accreditation has effect, and
(b) that the failure—
(i) prejudices or would be likely to prejudice the proper award or authentication of the qualification, or
(ii) prejudices or would be likely to prejudice persons who might reasonably be expected to seek to obtain the qualification,
the Authority may direct the awarding body to take or refrain from taking specified steps with a view to securing compliance with the conditions subject to which the accreditation has effect.
(2) It shall be the duty of the awarding body to comply with any direction under this section.
(3) Any direction under this section is enforceable, on the application of the Qualifications, Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales, by a mandatory order.”
9 In section 58(6) of the Education Act 1997 (c. 44) (provisions extending to Northern Ireland), for “section 26” there is substituted “sections 26 and 26A”.
Education Act 2002