§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if, in view of its complexity, he will reissue the explanatory note to Statutory Instrument 1861 of 1980, relating to direct grant schools; and if he will explain the purpose and effect of that order in plain words.
§ Dr. BoysonMy right hon. and learned Friend does not consider it necessary to reissue the explanatory note to the Direct Grant Schools (Amendment) Regulations 1980 (SI No. 1861), but the following may be helpful by way of further explanation.
Section 34 of the Education Act 1980 amended the definition in section 114(1) of the Education Act 1944 of the expression "independent school" to include direct grant schools other than nursery schools; that definition is attracted by section 82(1) of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. One effect of this is that such direct grant schools have become subject automatically to the provisions of the 1975 Act as they apply to independent schools.
The practical effect of the change of definition of independent school in the context of the Sex Discrimination Act is that a direct grant school proposing to become co-educational will now apply for an order authorising discriminatory admissions during a transitional period (a transitional exemption order) to the Equal Opportunities Commission and not to the Secretary of State. As a consequence, the regulations providing for such applications to the Secretary of State are no longer necessary and the Direct Grant Schools (Amendment) Regulations 1980 revoke them.