ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how two education authorities, operating within different legislative frameworks, have responded to decreases in the number of primary-school pupils. One of these authorities (Manchester) is in England and the other (Tayside) is in Scotland. The procedures governing the closure, alteration and establishment of schools require local education authorities (LEAs) to publish statutory notices setting out their proposals, to which formal objections may be raised. Department of Education and Science (DES) Circulars 5/77 and 2/81 give expressions to the policies of both Labour and Conservative governments to secure savings in the education budget as the school-age population declines. Turning to financial arrangements, the revenue available to LEAs is influenced, but not determined, by the distribution of central government grants. The Scottish Education Department (SED) has more limited statutory powers than the DES and there are correspondingly fewer statutory controls over local authorities in Scotland than in England and Wales.
