Commentary Schedule 13: The Training and Development Agency for Schools Sections 78 to 80: Powers of the Agency to provide financial support
164.These sections describe the Agency’s powers to provide financial support. They replace the Agency’s existing funding powers under section 5 of the 1994 Act, orders made under section 16 of that Act and regulations made under section 50 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986. The Agency will be able to provide to any person such financial support as they think fit in furtherance of their objectives. This power includes power to provide financial support to, for example, persons undertaking training as well as institutions or other bodies providing training as defined in subsection (3) of section 78. References to training in this Part are to be read in accordance with section 96(1).
165.Section 79 allows the Agency to attach terms and conditions in relation to financial support they provide. This includes, in subsections (4) and (5), a new power for the Agency to control the charging of fees by training providers. It will remain the case, however, that the Agency will have to impose on a training provider any condition of grant governing the charging of fees that the Secretary of State or the Assembly require them to impose under Part 3 of the Higher Education Act 2004 (to which consequential amendments are made by Schedule 14).
166.In addition to the current requirement that the Agency must have regard to teacher training targets when reaching decisions on the provision of financial support, subsection (7) requires the Agency to have regard to any other forecast of demand for members of the school workforce that may be notified to them by the Secretary of State. There continues to be provision that the Agency must have regard to whether their funding practices may discourage institutions from obtaining revenue from other sources such as research and development activity (subsection (1) of section 80), and that they must take into account the need to keep an appropriate balance between the support given to training providers of a denominational character and other training providers (subsection (2) of section 80).