The Scottish Government

Section 15: DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS TO BOARDS

This section provides for School Boards to have additional functions delegated to them from education authorities. It specifies certain functions which may not be delegated and gives effect to Schedule 3 which sets out the procedure for making delegation orders. Schedule 3 is explained on pages 54 to 55.

Section 15(2) determines the functions of an education authority which cannot be delegated to a School Board. These relate to professional areas (such as the curriculum) and to certain management functions which extend beyond the interests of an individual school. The following functions cannot be delegated to a Board:

• Giving employment to school staff or removing them from it. (The term "staff' has its natural meaning here; the special definition used in section 2(1)(b) and defined in section 2(1) does not apply.) The Board is therefore prevented from becoming the employer of any of the staff of a school, whether teaching or non-teaching. It should be noted, however, that delegation of functions related to staff, short of employing or dismissing them, may be delegated. It would, for example, be quite possible for a Board to be given the function of the selection of staff for an individual school, provided that the education authority, having confirmed the Board's choice, offered employment as the prospective employer.
• Independent selection of senior staff (deputy headteacher and headteacher). Boards are already involved in their selection as provided for in section 11 and Schedule 2 to the Act.
• The regulation of the curriculum and the assessment of pupils. These are areas of professional responsibility. Delegation of decisions as to how results of assessment are reported to parents is, however, permissible. Boards are also free to seek information on the curriculum and to make representations.
• Discontinuing or changing the site of the school or amalgamating the school with another.
• Setting up or discontinuing any stage of education in a school, or special classes in a school.
• Determining admissions policy for a school. Delegation of the administration of an admissions policy is, however, permissible.

Section 15(3) provides that delegation orders may be made for a specified period (a trial period, for example) or for an unlimited time. It also empowers education authorities to attach to a delegation order any condition that they consider appropriate; for example, a delegation order could contain the condition that contracts over a certain value must be referred to the authority for a decision. (Such periods or conditions are to be applied subject to the provisions of Schedule 3 , which provides for Boards to be consulted about the terms of any delegation.)

Section 15(5) empowers an education authority to adjust the amount of money it has made available to a School Board (under the provisions of section 17) for the discharge of a delegated function if the delegation has been revoked or amended ( see Schedule 3). This may be necessary in cases where a delegation is revoked or amended in the course of a financial year.