Education Act 1973

Educational trustsE+W

1 General provisions as to educational trusts.E+W

(1)There shall cease to have effect—

(a)section 2 of the M1Charities Act 1960 (by which, as originally enacted, the powers of the Charity Commissioners were made exercisable concurrently by the Minister of Education); and

(b)the Endowed Schools Acts 1869 to 1948 (which made provision for the modernisation of educational trusts by schemes settled and approved in accordance with those Acts).

(2)The Secretary of State may by order—

(a)make such modifications of any trust deed or other instrument relating to a school as, after consultation with the . . . F1 governors or other proprietor of the school, appear to him to be requisite in consequence of any [F2order made by him under section 16 of the Education Act 1944 or proposals falling to be implemented under section 12 or 13 of the Education Act 1980] (which relate to the establishment of and changes affecting schools); and

(b)make such modifications of any trust deed or other instrument relating to a school as, after consultation with the governors or other proprietor of the school, appear to him to be requisite to enable the governors or proprietor to meet any requirement imposed by regulations under [F3sections 12 and 13 of the Education Act 1981 (approval of schools for purposes of that Act); and]

(c)make such modifications of any trust deed or other instrument relating to or regulating any institution that provides or is concerned in the provision of educational services, or is concerned in educational research, as, after consultation with the persons responsible for the management of the institution, appear to him to be requisite to enable them to fulfil any condition or meet any requirement imposed by regulations under section 100 of the M2Education Act 1944 (which authorises the making of grants in aid of educational services or research);

and any modification made by an order under this subsection may be made to have permanent effect or to have effect for such period as may be specified in the order.

This subsection shall be construed, and the M3Education Acts 1944 to 1971 shall have effect, as if this subsection were contained in the Education Act 1944.

(3)In connection with the operation of this section there shall have effect the transitional and other consequential or supplementary provisions contained in Schedule 1 to this Act.

(4)The enactments mentioned in Schedule 2 to this Act (which includes in Part I certain enactments already spent or otherwise no longer required apart from the foregoing provisions of this section) are hereby repealed to the extent specified in column 3 of the Schedule.

(5)Subsection (1)(a) above and Part III of Schedule 2 to this Act shall not come into force until such date as may be appointed by order made by statutory instrument by the Secretary of State.

2 Special powers as to certain trusts for religious education. E+W

[F4(1)Where the premises of a voluntary school or a grant-maintained school have ceased (whether before or after the passing of the Education Reform Act 1988) to be used for a voluntary school or, as the case may be, a grant-maintained school, or in the opinion of the Secretary of State it is likely they will cease to be so used, then subject to subsections (2) to (4) below, he may by order made by statutory instrument make new provision as to the use of any endowment if it is shown either—

(a)that the endowment is or has been held wholly or partly for or in connection with the provision at the school of religious education in accordance with the tenets of a particular religious denomination; or

(b)that the endowment is or has been used wholly or partly for or in connection with the provision at the school of such religious education and that (subject to subsection (1C) below) the requirements of subsection (1A) below are fulfilled.

(1A)The requirements of this subsection are—

(a)that the school was or has been maintained as a voluntary school since 1st April 1945 (the coming into force of Part II of the M4 Education Act 1944) or, in the case of a grant-maintained school, was so maintained from that date until immediately before it became a grant-maintained school; and

(b)that religious education in accordance with the tenets of the denomination concerned—

(i)is, and from that date has been, provided at the school; or

(ii)where the premises have ceased to be used for the purposes of the school, was provided at the school from that date until immediately before the premises ceased to be so used;

in pursuance of section 27 or 28 of that Act (religious education in voluntary schools) or section 85 or 86 of the Education Reform Act 1988 (religious education in grant-maintained schools which were formerly voluntary schools).

(1B)For the purposes of this section— “endowment”includes property not subject to any restriction on the expenditure of capital; and “shown”means shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of State.

(1C)For the purposes of this section—

(a)where in the case of any school falling within subsection (1A)(a) above it is shown—

(i)that religious education in accordance with the tenets of a particular denomination is provided at the school; or

(ii)where the premises have ceased to be used for the purposes of the school, such religious education was so provided immediately before the premises ceased to be so used;

such religious education shall be taken to have been provided at the school from 1st April 1945; and

(b)where religious education in accordance with such tenets is shown to have been given to any pupils at a controlled school or a grant-maintained school which was a controlled school immediately before it became a grant-maintained school, the religious education shall be taken to have been given to them at the request of their parents;

unless the contrary is shown.]

(2)No order shall be made under subsection (1) above except on the application of the persons appearing to the Secretary of State to be the appropriate authority of the denomination concerned; and the Secretary of State shall, not less than one month before making an order under that subsection, give notice of the proposed order and of the right of persons interested to make representations on it, and shall take into account any representations that may be made to him by any person interested therein before the order is made; and the notice shall be given—

(a)by giving to any persons appearing to the Secretary of State to be trustees of an endowment affected by the proposed order a notice of the proposal to make it, together with a draft or summary of the provisions proposed to be included; and

(b)by publishing in such manner as the Secretary of State thinks sufficient for informing any other persons interested a notice of the proposal to make the order and of the place where any person interested may (during a period of not less than a month) inspect such a draft or summary, and by keeping a draft or summary available for inspection in accordance with the notice.

(3)An order under subsection (1) above may require or authorise the disposal by sale or otherwise of any land or other property forming part of an endowment affected by the order, including the premises of the school and any teacher’s dwelling-house; . . . F5.

(4)Subject to subsection (3) above and to any provision affecting the endowments of any public general Act of Parliament, an order under subsection (1) above shall establish and give effect, with a view to enabling the denomination concerned to participate more effectively in the administration of the statutory system of public education, to a scheme or schemes for the endowments dealt with by the order to be used for appropriate educational purposes, either

[F6(a)in connection with schools which are voluntary schools or grant-maintained schools; or

(b)partly in connection with such schools (or either description of such schools) and partly in other ways related to the locality served by the voluntary school or grant-maintained school at the premises that have gone or are to go out of use for such a school;] and for this purpose “use for appropriate educational purposes” means use for educational purposes in connection with the provision of religious education in accordance with the tenets of the denomination concerned.

(5)A scheme given effect under this section may provide for the retention of the capital of any endowment and application of the accruing income or may authorise the application or expenditure of capital to such extent and subject to such conditions as may be determined by or in accordance with the scheme; and any such scheme may provide for the endowments thereby dealt with or any part of them to be added to any existing endowment applicable for any such purpose as is authorised for the scheme by subsection (4) above.

(6)An order under subsection (1) above may include any such incidental or supplementary provisions as appear to the Secretary of State to be necessary or expedient either for the bringing into force or for the operation of any scheme thereby established, including in particular provisions for the appointment and powers of trustees of the property comprised in the scheme or, if the property is not all applicable for the same purposes, of any part of that property, and for the property or any part of it to vest by virtue of the scheme in the first trustees under the scheme or trustees of any endowment to which it is to be added or, if not so vested, to be transferred to them.

(7)Any order under this section shall have effect notwithstanding any Act of Parliament (not being a public general Act), letters patent or other instrument relating to, or trust affecting, the endowments dealt with by the order; but section 15(3) of the M5Charities Act 1960 (by virtue of which the court and the Charity Commissioners may exercise their jurisdiction in relation to charities mentioned in Schedule 4 to the Act notwithstanding that the charities are governed by the Acts or statutory schemes there mentioned) shall have effect as if at the end of paragraph 1(b) of Schedule 4 to the Act there were added the words “or by schemes given effect under section 2 of the Education Act 1973.”

(8)This section shall apply where the premises of a nonprovided public elementary school ceased before 1st April 1945 to be used for such a school as it applies where the premises of a voluntary school have ceased to be used for a voluntary school.

(9)This section shall be construed, and the M6Education Acts 1944 to 1971 shall have effect, as if this section were contained in the Education Act 1944.

AwardsE+W

3 Supplementation by Secretary of State, in special cases, of certain awards by local education authority.E+W

(1)The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for the payment by him, to persons on whom awards have been bestowed by a local education authority under section 1 of the M7Education Act 1962 (awards for first degree university courses and comparable courses in the United Kingdom), of an allowance in respect of a wife, husband or child for the purpose of enabling those persons to take advantage without hardship of their awards in cases where, in accordance with the regulations having effect under that section, account may not be taken of the wife, husband or child in determining the payments to be made by the authority in pursuance of the award.

(2)The amount of an allowance payable by virtue of this section to the holder of an award in respect of a wife, husband or child shall not exceed the amount by which the payments to be made by the local education authority in pursuance of the award would have been increased if the case had fallen within the provision made with respect to a wife, husband or child by the regulations having effect under section 1 of the M8Education Act 1962.

(3)Regulations under this section may make different provision for different cases; and the power of the Secretary of State to make regulations under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(4)Any expenses incurred by the Secretary of State in the payment of allowances under this section shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(5)In this section references to a person’s child include that person’s stepchild or illegitimate child . . . F7

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SupplementaryE+W

5 Citation and extent.E+W

(1)This Act may be cited as the Education Act 1973, and the Education Acts 1944 to 1971 and this Act may be cited together as the Education Acts 1944 to 1973.

(2)Nothing in this Act extends to Scotland or to Northern Ireland.