159.Section 110makes two changes to the definition of secondary education in section 2 of the Education Act 1996. The first change (in new subsection (2A)) extends the definition of “secondary education” so as to include full-time education provided at an LEA-maintained institution where the institution is principally concerned with the provision of full-time education suitable to the requirement of persons over compulsory school age and under the age of 19. The second change (in new subsection (2B)) clarifies the position where a person in full-time education is receiving his education partly at the school and partly at another institution under arrangements made by the school.
160.As a result of the first change, a secondary school may be either:
	an institution for providing the type of education currently set out in section 2(2) of the Education Act 1996, as before; or
	an institution providing full-time education suitable for 16 to 18 year olds, without pupils of compulsory school age.
161.Consequently, LEAs may establish and maintain secondary schools that provide full-time education for 16 to 19 year olds without providing education for children of compulsory school age - as they could prior to April 1993. With the coming into force of provisions in the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, those schools were moved into the further education sector through incorporation or designation and the powers of LEAs amended to remove their ability to establish and maintain such schools.
162.Section 110(3) provides, however, that any existing institutions providing only full-time education for 16 to 19 year olds which would become schools when subsection (1) comes into force are not to be treated as schools unless they are properly established as schools under section 28 or 31 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (which involves the publication of statutory proposals. From the coming into force of subsections (4) and (5), which will be at a later date than the commencement of the remainder of this section, the LEA will not have the power to continue to maintain any existing institutions for 16 to 19 year olds which are not properly established maintained schools in the categories defined by the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998.
163.With the second change, this section also provides for the definition of secondary education in the Education Act 1996 to be extended to include provision made under collaborative arrangements between schools and FE or HE institutions. The current definition may prevent the development of such collaboration by stipulating that secondary education for those over compulsory school age is necessarily made “at a” school. Section 142 provides for FE and HE corporations to be able to provide secondary education under such collaborative arrangements and requires them to consult relevant LEAs before doing so.
164.Section 16 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 allows the Secretary of State or the National Assembly to incorporate into the FE sector LEA-maintained 16 to 19 institutions. Section 51 of that Act provides for publication of proposals for incorporation and drafts of orders incorporating institutions. Section 111 simplifies the powers in section 16, removes obsolete material and amends section 51 of the 1992 Act so that the LSC or the CETW cannot publish proposals to incorporate an institution maintained by an LEA nor can the Secretary of State or the National Assembly publish a draft order incorporating such an institution without the consent of the LEA and the governing body. However by virtue of section 110(5) this restriction does not apply if the institution has not been properly established as a school.
165.Section 28 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 allows the Secretary of State or the National Assembly to designate voluntary-aided schools so that they become institutions in the FE sector. Section 112 amends section 28 of the 1992 Act so that the Secretary of State or the National Assembly may only designate voluntary-aided schools for 16 to 19 year olds with the consent of the governing body and the LEA.
166.Section 113 introduces Schedule 7 which is about inadequate sixth forms. (The Schedule is discussed at paragraphs 219 to 232 below.) Section 113 also provides for the Secretary of State’s and the National Assembly’s powers of intervention (in sections 496 and 497 of the Education Act 1996) to apply in respect of the powers and duties which Schedule 7 secures for local education authorities, school organisation committees and schools’ governing bodies.
Commentary on Sections Part V - Miscellaneous and General Sections 110 to 113: sixth-form education