Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.-(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (School Inspection) (Wales) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 1st September 1996.

(2) In these Regulations "the principal Regulations" means the Education (School Inspection) (Wales) (No. 2) Regulations 1993(3).

Amendment of principal Regulations

2.-(1) For regulation 7 of the principal Regulations there is substituted the following-

"Reports, action plans and statements

7.-(1) The carrying out of an inspection shall be completed by the expiry of the period of two weeks beginning when the inspection begins to be carried out.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph 9B(2) of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Act and section 208(2) of the 1993 Act there is prescribed, as the period within which the making of the report of an inspection and a summary of the report is to be completed, the period of five weeks, or a period of seven weeks where it is necessary to provide a translation into Welsh or English, from the date on which the inspection is completed.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph 10(2) of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Act and section 210(2) of the 1993 Act there is prescribed, as the period within which the appropriate authority are to prepare an action plan, the period of forty working days or, where it is necessary to provide a translation into Welsh or English, the period of forty five working days, from the date on which they receive the report.

(4) For the purposes of paragraph 10(3) and (4) of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Act and section 210(3) and (4) of the 1993 Act there is prescribed, as the period within which the appropriate authority are to distribute in accordance with those enactments copies of an action plan prepared by them-

(a)where the report does not state that the registered inspector is of the opinion that special measures are required to be taken in relation to the school, or where it does so and also states that the Chief Inspector disagrees with his opinion, five working days from the date on which the appropriate authority complete the preparation of the action plan; and

(b)where the person making the report states that he is of the opinion that special measures are required to be taken in relation to the school, and either that person is a member of the Inspectorate or the report states that the Chief Inspector agrees with his opinion-

(i)two days from the date on which the appropriate authority complete the preparation of the action plan; or

(ii)two days from the expiry of the period prescribed by paragraph (3),

whichever first occurs.

(5) Where an action plan has been prepared by the appropriate authority they shall send copies of it together with any translation into Welsh or English (in addition to the persons mentioned in paragraph 10(3) and (4) of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Act or subsections (3) and (5), or (3) to (5), of section 210 of the 1993 Act, as the case may be) as follows-

(a)in all cases, to all persons employed at the school;

(b)in the case of a secondary school, to the Training and Enterprise Council for the area in which the school is situated; and

(c)in the case of an independent school approved by the Secretary of State under section 189(1) of the Education Act 1993 (approval of independent schools as suitable for admission of children with statements of special educational needs), to a further education funding council or any local education authority, if that body are paying fees in respect of the provision of education to any person at the school.

(6) For the purposes of section 211(3) of the 1993 Act there is prescribed, as the period within which a local education authority are to prepare the statement referred to in section 211(2), the period of-

(a)ten days from the date on which they receive a copy of the action plan in respect of the school in question; or

(b)twelve days from the expiry of the period prescribed by paragraph (3),

whichever first occurs.

(7) For the purposes of calculating the periods prescribed by paragraphs (4)(b) and (6) no account shall be taken of Saturday, Sunday, Good Friday and Christmas Day or any day which is a bank holiday.".

3. Regulation 2 of the Education (School Inspection) (Wales) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 1993(4), is hereby revoked.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These regulations amend the Education (School Inspection) (Wales) (No. 2) Regulations 1993 by substituting a new regulation 7. Regulation 7 was amended in a number of respects by regulation 2 of the Education (School Inspection) (Wales) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 1993, which is revoked by these regulations. The only change of substance made to regulation 7 as previously amended is to substitute a new paragraph (3). This prescribes a common period within which action plans are to be prepared following a school inspection. Consequential changes are made to paragraphs (4) and (6).