Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education Authority Annual Plan Planning Period (Scotland) Regulations 2017 and come into force on 1st August 2017.

(2) In these Regulations, "the 2000 Act" means the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000.

Planning period

2.  The day prescribed as the day on which the planning period begins, for the purposes of section 3F(1) (annual plan: education authority) of the 2000 Act, is 1st September each year.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations prescribe the day the planning period begins each year for the purposes of section 3F(1) of the Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 ("the 2000 Act"). Section 3F(1) requires each education authority, each year, to prepare and publish a plan, setting out-

(a)the steps that they propose to take during the planning period (i) with a view to reducing inequalities of outcome for pupils of a type mentioned in section 3A(2) of the 2000 Act (pupils who experience those inequalities as a result of socio-economic disadvantage), (ii) to comply with duties imposed on it by section 3B(3) of the 2000 Act (duties relating to the strategic implementation of the education authority's functions relating to school education), (iii) in pursuance of the National Improvement Framework; and

(b)any educational benefits for pupils that the authority considers will result from taking those steps.

The day prescribed as the day on which the planning period begins each year for the purposes of section 3F(1) is 1st September. The first planning period will run from 1st September 2017 to 31st August 2018.