Commentary on provisions of Act Section 2: Performance standards and safety warning notices
Section 2 amends section 60 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (performance standards and safety warning notices).
	Under section 60 only local authorities may give a warning notice to the governing body of a maintained school, and Section 2 gives the power to the Secretary of State as well.
	Section 2(2)(b) and (c) sets out how a maintained school may become eligible for intervention after a warning notice has been given. It allows the person giving the warning notice to set the period for compliance by the governing body, in place of the current fixed period of 15 working days from the giving of the warning notice. As a consequence of the removal of the representations procedure by section 2(2)(h), and the changes made by sections 2(4) and 2(5), the beginning of the time when it is possible to exercise the powers to appoint additional governors (under s 64 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006) and to suspend the right to a delegated budget (under s 66 of that Act) is determined by reference to the compliance period specified in the warning notice.
	Section 2(2)(e) inserts new subsection (4A) into section 60. This provides that if the local authority are notified that the Secretary of State has given a warning notice then the local authority may not give a warning notice unless the Secretary of State tells them that they may.
	Section 2(2)(e) also inserts a new subsection (4B) into section 60. This provides that if the Secretary of State gives a warning notice to a governing body any prior warning notice given by the local authority to the same governing body ceases to have effect.
	The governing body's entitlement to make representations against the warning notice to Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills , and the obligation of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to consider those representations, is removed by section 2(2)(h).
	Section 2(6) removes the power of the Secretary of State, found in section 69A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, to direct a local authority to give a performance standards and safety warning notice. This is because as a result of the amendments in section 2 the Secretary of State can now give these notices.
	Section 2(7) omits the definition of working day from section 73 (Interpretation of Part 4) as it is redundant as a result of the other amendments made by sections 2 and 3.