Citation, commencement and application

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Education (Objection to Admission Arrangements) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 20th January 2003.

(2) These Regulations apply only in relation to England.

Amendment of the Regulations

2. —(1)The Education (Objection to Admission Arrangements) Regulations 1999( 2 ) shall be amended as follows—

(2) For regulation 1(2) (Citation, commencement and interpretation) there shall be substituted the following paragraphs—

“ (1) In these Regulations—

“ the Act ” means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;

“admission number” means the number of pupils in any relevant age group intended to be admitted in any school year as determined by an admission authority in accordance with section 89A(1) ( 3 ) ;

“indicated admission number” means the number of pupils in any relevant age group referred to as such and determined in accordance with the net capacity assessment method set out in the guidance, Assessing the Net Capacity of Schools ( 4 ) , issued by the Department for Education and Skills in August 2002.

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to a numbered section is a reference to that section of the Act. ” .

(3) For regulation 2 (Cases where an objection may not be referred) there shall be substituted—

“ 2. —(1) This regulation prescribes the description of objections that, by virtue of section 90(1)(c), may not be referred under subsection 90(1).

(2) An objection may not be referred under that subsection—

(a) if the substance of the objection is to seek an alteration to the admission arrangements in question—

(i) (in the case of a grammar school) which by virtue of section 104(4) may only be made in accordance with sections 105 to 109,

(ii) in respect of which section 90 is excluded from applying by virtue of section 103(1) and (2) (an introduction, variation or abandonment of provision for selection which would constitute a prescribed alteration for the purposes of section 28), or

(iii) (except where subparagraph (ii) applies) which would constitute a prescribed alteration for the purposes of section 28; or

(b) in any case where the body seeking to make an objection are the governing body of a community or voluntary controlled school, responsibility for determining the admission arrangements for the school not having been delegated to them under section 88(1)(a)(ii), and the objection is to—

(i) the admission arrangements for any other community or voluntary controlled school in the relevant area ( 5 ) for whom the local education authority are the admission authority, or

(ii) the admission arrangements for the school for which they are the governing body, unless the substance of the objection relates to the determination of any admission number for that school. ” .

(4) For regulation 4 (Parents who are eligible to refer an objection) there shall be substituted—

“ 4. For the purposes of section 90(2)(b) the description of a parent who may refer an objection relating to admission arrangements under that subsection is an individual who is—

(a) where the objection falls within regulation 5(1)(a), the parent ( 6 ) of a child of compulsory school age receiving primary education, or

(a) where the objection falls within regulation 5(1)(b), the parent of a child who has attained the age of two but has not attained the age of five or whose child is of compulsory school age receiving primary education,

and (in either case) is resident in the relevant area for which consultation under section 89(2)(b) relating to those admission arrangements applies. ” .

(5) For regulation 5(1) (Objections that may be referred by parents) there shall be substituted—

“ (1) For the purposes of section 90(2)(c) the description of objection that may be referred under that subsection is—

(a) an objection relating to pre-existing selection arrangements;

(b) an objection relating to an admission number for any relevant age group which is lower than the indicated admission number for that age group. ” .

(6) For regulation 8(1)(a) and (b) (Publication of decision) there shall be substituted—

“ (a) by notification in writing to the parties to the objection and to all other bodies whom the admission authority were required to consult under section 89(2), or would but for section 89(2A) have been required so to consult about the proposed admission arrangements; and

(b) in the case of a decision on an objection relating to—

(i) pre-existing selection arrangements within the meaning of regulation 5(2), or

(ii) an admission number which is lower than the indicated admission number,

(whether or not such objections were referred by a parent) by publishing the information in paragraph (2) of this regulation in a newspaper circulating in the area served by the school in question within 14 days after the date when the decision and reasons were given. ” .

(7) For regulation 10(3) and (4) there shall be substituted—

“ (3) Any such determination may only be made if—

(a) such arrangements are made within two months of the date on which the decision and the reasons for it were notified in accordance with regulation 8(1)(a); and

(b) the relevant authority have informed each admission authority, whom they were required to consult under section 89(2), or would but for section 89(2A) have been required to so consult, about the admission arrangements which they are seeking to revise under this regulation.

(4) In this regulation “relevant admission authority” means an admission authority who, before they determined the admission arrangements that they wish to revise, were required to consult under section 89(2), or would but for section 89(2A) have been required to consult the admission authority against whom the decision was made. ” .