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Dear Jimmy

Thank you for your recent enquiry. A reply will be sent to you as soon as possible. For information; the departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses should be sent within 20 working days as you are requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2019-0022525.

Thank you

Department for Education
Ministerial and Public Communications Division
Tel: 0370 000 2288

show quoted sections

Dear Sir

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 17^th
June. You requested:

·         that we give you ‘the relevant legislation/acts of parliament as
well as all regulations etc. that concern the school applications for
children needing only one signature and not from both parents and also
only allowing one application for secondary schools and not 2 (from both
parents), or just 1 application with both parents signatures, since the
Human Rights Act 1998, or possibly before’;

·         that we state ‘whether each bit of the legislation/act's etc. is
either primary legislation, secondary legislation, or rules and
regulations? Or amending a previous Act of Parliament via Statutory
Instrument?’

·         ‘who made/who was responsible for each decision?’

·         for us to comment on why we allow only one parent to be eligible
to sign a school application form and not both?

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We do not hold legislation within the Department for Education. You can
find legislation on this website [1]https://www.legislation.gov.uk/.

Your query relates to both admissions law and guidance and the law on
parental responsibility. The following are therefore relevant. I have
indicated which is primary and which is secondary legislation and
guidance.  

·         Part 3 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (as
amended) – primary legislation.

·         The School Admissions (Admission Arrangements and Co-ordination
of Admission Arrangements) Regulations 2012 (as amended) – secondary
legislation.

·         The Children Act 1989 (as amended), especially sections 2 and 3
– primary legislation.

The School Admissions Code is statutory guidance but has the mandatory
force of secondary legislation through being made under section 84 of the
School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Parliament passes legislation and is therefore responsible for taking the
final decision on the content of primary or secondary legislation. You can
find out more at this website.
[2]https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role.... Bills are
introduced by ministers on behalf of the Secretary of State. It is
possible for any government minister to introduce a Bill or lay
regulations before the House. Ministers are supported by civil servants
and lawyers in developing legislation.

You want to know who the Secretary of State for Education was at the time
each piece of legislation mentioned above came into force. This historical
information is not published by this department but an accurate list of
their dates is currently on Wikipedia (although Wikipedia cannot always be
relied on to be totally accurate):
[3]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_...

Further guidance on applying for a school is here:
[4]https://www.gov.uk/schools-admissions/ap... . Those with parental
responsibility can apply for a school place. You can find out more about
parental responsibility here:
[5]https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-respo...

This website also sets out how parents can apply for a Specific Issue
Order or Prohibited Steps Order if they cannot, for instance, agree where
their children should go to school.

None of the above legislation or guidance says that only one parent can
apply for a school; neither does it say that both parents have to agree on
a preference for a school for the preference to be valid. Anyone with
parental responsibility for a child can exercise a preference for a
school.

Within the School Admissions Code you will see that paragraph 2.4
prohibits admission authorities from asking both parents to sign an
application form. This provision was added to the 2009 version of the Code
to ensure that single parent families could not be discriminated against
in the admissions process.

If you have any queries about this message, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter.  Your complaint will be considered by
an independent review panel, which were not involved in the original
consideration of your request. 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

 Mark Earl 

Web: [6]https://www.education.gov.uk
Twitter: [7]https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: [8]https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

References

Visible links
1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/
2. https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role...
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_...
4. https://www.gov.uk/schools-admissions/ap...
5. https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-respo...
6. https://www.education.gov.uk/
7. https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
8. https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk