Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Gaelic Medium Education (Assessment Requests) (Scotland) Regulations 2016 and come into force on 1st February 2017.

(2) In these Regulations-

"the 2016 Act" means the Education (Scotland) Act 2016;

"GMPE" means Gaelic medium primary education within the meaning of section 18(2) of the 2016 Act;

"parent" has the meaning given by section 135(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980(2);

"specified child" is to be construed in accordance with section 7(2) of the 2016 Act; and

"year group" is to be construed in accordance with section 7(4) of the 2016 Act.

Form and content of request to assess the need for GMPE

2.-(1) A request under section 7(1) of the 2016 Act must-

(a)be in the form set out in the schedule of these Regulations or in a form adapted for electronic use which is to the same effect;

(b)contain or be accompanied by the information required by that form; and

(c)be authenticated as required by that form by the parent who is making the request.

(2) A request under section 7(1) of the 2016 Act may also contain or be accompanied by the information specified in Annex 2 of that form.

Manner of request to assess the need for GMPE

3.  A request under section 7(1) of the 2016 Act must be-

(a)made in writing; and

(b)submitted to the education authority in whose area the specified child is resident.

Regulation 2(1)(a)

SCHEDULE

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Section 7(1) of the Education (Scotland) Act 2016 ("the 2016 Act") provides that a parent of a child under school age may request the education authority in whose area the child is resident to assess the need for Gaelic medium primary education ("GMPE"). Such a request will trigger the assessment process in sections 8 to 13 of the 2016 Act.

Section 7(2) of the 2016 Act requires that such a request must relate to only one child ("the specified child") and contain evidence of demand for GMPE from parents of other children under school age in the same year group and resident in the same education authority area as the specified child.

Section 7(3) of the 2016 Act provides that such a request may also contain evidence that there is demand for GMPE from parents of other children under school age resident in the same education authority area as the specified child but in a different year group.

Section 7(4) of the 2016 Act defines "year group" to mean the group of children under school age all of whom, on commencing primary education at a primary school in that education authority area, will be in the same yearly stage of primary education. This definition is relied on in these Regulations.

Section 7(5) of the 2016 Act enables the Scottish Ministers to make, by regulations, further provision about requests under section 7(1). Section 7(6) specifies that such regulations may, in particular, include provision for or in connection with the form of the request and the manner in which it is made as well as any information that must or may accompany the request.

As such, regulation 2 and the schedule of these Regulations prescribe the form that a request to assess the need for GMPE must follow (including the information which it must and may contain) and regulation 3 prescribes the manner in which the request must be made. Regulation 2 allows the form to be adapted for electronic use so long as it is to the same effect as the form set out in the schedule of these Regulations.