65.Section 29 amends section 5(2) of the 1988 Act to prohibit a local councillor from being a member of any School Board which is within his or her Council’s area. At present the prohibition under section 5(2) applies only to councillors whose electoral ward falls wholly or partly within the catchment area of the school. This change has been made to avoid a conflict of interest which might arise if a councillor was both a parent member of a Board and on the Education Committee making decisions related to that school.
66.To help clarify the effect of the amendments made by the Act to the 1988 Act, the main changes have been incorporated into the relevant sections of the 1988 Act for illustrative purposes. This is shown in the annex.
The Act School Boards Section 29 – Restriction on councillor’s membership of School Boards