(1)Section 62A of the Education Act 2002 (power of Secretary of State to require LEAs in England to obtain advisory services) is amended as follows.
(2)After subsection (1) insert—
“(1A)This section also applies where it appears to the Secretary of State that—
(a)a local education authority in England maintain a disproportionate number of low-performing schools, and
(b)the authority—
(i)have not been effective or are unlikely to be effective in securing an improvement in the standards of performance of pupils at those schools, or
(ii)are unlikely to be effective in securing an improvement in the standards of performance of pupils at other schools which may in the future be low-performing schools.
(1B)In subsection (1A) “low-performing school” means a school at which the standards of performance of pupils are unacceptably low.
(1C)For the purposes of subsection (1B) the standards of performance of pupils at a school are low if they are low by reference to any one or more of the following—
(a)the standards that the pupils might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to attain;
(b)where relevant, the standards previously attained by them;
(c)the standards attained by pupils at comparable schools.”
(3)In subsection (4) after “section” insert—
““pupil” has the same meaning as in the Education Act 1996 (see sections 3 and 19(5) of that Act);”.