Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015

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Refusal of access to certain information

7. The Education Act 1998 is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 53 (amended by section 5 of the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2007 )—

“53. (1) Notwithstanding any other enactment, the Minister may refuse access to information specified in subsection (4) (in this section referred to as the ‘specified information’).

(2) The Minister may, following consultation with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, by regulations prescribe a public body for the purposes of this section.

(3) Notwithstanding any other enactment, where a public body stands prescribed for the time being under subsection (2) that public body shall refuse access to the specified information unless the Minister—

(a) consents to the public body granting access to that information, or

(b) directs the public body to grant access to that information.

(4) The specified information is any information—

(a) which would enable the compilation of information (that is not otherwise available to the general public) in relation to the comparative performance of—

(i) recognised schools in respect of the academic achievement of students, or

(ii) education or training facilities in respect of the academic achievement of learners,

including, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing—

(I) the overall results or outcomes in any period of time of students in a recognised school or learners in an education or training facility in an examination or assessment, or

(II) the comparative overall results or outcomes in any period of time of students in different recognised schools or learners in different education or training facilities in an examination or assessment,

or

(b) relating to the identity of examiners.

(5) In this section—

‘Act of 2013’ means the Education and Training Boards Act 2013 ;

‘education or training facility’ has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2013;

‘learner’ has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2013;

‘public body’ has the same meaning as it has in the Freedom of Information Act 2014 .”.