Commentary on Sections Welsh language education delivery plans Section 16 - Review and amendment of Welsh language education delivery plan
81.Section 16(1) requires a school’s governing body to review its delivery plan at least once before the end of the period for which the plan has effect.
82.Taking this into account, section 16(2) allows a school’s governing body to amend a delivery plan during the period that the plan has effect. Once the period of the plan comes to an end, a new plan for the next period must be prepared and approved (section 14). Under section 16(3) to (4) a school’s governing body must have regard to the local authority’s local Welsh in education strategic plan (see section 30) when reviewing or amending the delivery plan, and submit an amended draft to the local authority. Section 16(5) places a duty on the governing body to provide a summary of the amendments proposed and the reasons for them.
83.Section 16(6) to (7) sets out the steps that the local authority may take in relation to the revised delivery plan that has been submitted to it under section 16(3). It may approve the plan, with or without modifications, or reject it.
84.If a local authority rejects a revised delivery plan it must give a direction to a governing body to reconsider the plan. The local authority must set out the reasons for the decision and specify by when the governing body must submit a further draft of the delivery plan to the local authority.
85.If a governing body must submit a further draft of the delivery plan, that plan must be submitted in accordance with section 16(5) to (7). A revised delivery plan may need to be resubmitted more than once.
86.In accordance with section 16(9), a school delivery plan that has been amended and approved by the local authority must be published. This includes publishing it on the school’s website if that school has a website. See section 50 for specific duties regarding the publication of documents. A school’s governing body is also required to take all reasonable steps to implement the proposals under section 14(1)(e) to (i) in the revised delivery plan that a local authority has approved.