Written Statement - Proposed Education (Wales) Measure

I have today laid the proposed Education (Wales) Measure, together with an Explanatory

Memorandum, before the Assembly. On Wednesday (8 December 2010) I will make a legislative statement to Plenary to formally introduce the Measure.

The proposed measure will make provisions in relation to: collaborative working on education matters between schools, further education institutions (FEIs) and local authorities; schools governance and the federation of school governing bodies; prevention of further schools changing category to become foundation schools, and prevention of any new foundation schools being established.

Specifically it is proposed that the Measure will:

Collaboration

• Place a duty on local authorities, and maintained schools and FEI governing bodies to consider how, when exercising their education functions, they might work collaboratively with each other, where that would further the objective of the effective and efficient use of public resources;

Federation

• Re-enacts existing Governing Body powers and broadens the federation concept by giving local authorities the power to provide for their schools to be federated;
• Give local authorities a power to propose and secure a federation of two or more schools;
• Provides a stream-lined procedure for the federation of small schools so that excessive bureaucracy is not a barrier to local authorities proposing federations. 

School Governance

• Place a duty on a local authority to offer, to all its maintained schools, the provision of a suitably qualified and trained Clerk to the governing body.
• Place a duty on local authorities to provide prescribed training to governors.
• Place a duty on local authorities to offer training to clerks.
• Give the Welsh Ministers the power to set out the details of the training to be offered to clerks, and the details of the training to be provided for governors.

Foundation Schools 

• Amend of existing legislation so that, in Wales, there may be no proposals to establish new foundation schools, and so that there may be no new proposals for existing maintained schools to change category to become foundation schools.