Group leader of the Isle of Wight Conservatives, Dave Stewart, has issued this press release today. Ed
Conservative Councillors on the Isle of Wight Council have called for disclosure of the full costs incurred in taking the recent school attendance case to the High Court.
This case, which attracted national interest, was lost by the Isle of Wight Council and as a result substantial costs are now expected to be incurred.
Councillor Dave Stewart, leader of the Conservative Group on the Isle of Wight council, has asked for this disclosure so the public can be fully informed as to what has happened and why:
“Whist we are endeavouring to make a case to Government that as a council we are struggling to balance the books due to funding reductions we cannot simultaneously be seen to be spending substantial amounts of Island tax payers’ money unsuccessfully pursuing a case in the High Court, and that expenditure being incurred without Full Council being consulted.
“In the interests of openness and transparency, as well as public accountability, the Leader of the Council must now publish in full a schedule of the costs incurred; and must explain how this decision came to be made without the Full Council being consulted, contrary to the stated principle of the Administration that significant decisions would not be handled on a delegated basis.
“We do have sympathy with the principle of schoolchildren not being taken out of school in term time as the evidence would suggest that persistent absenteeism can have significant impact on learning progress. But as Mr Platt has shown, in his case his child had regular attendance with good results.
“The question of exceptional circumstances for being absent is rightly for Headteachers to decide, with each case being considered on its merits – so what happened in this case? Why did our Council have to face the embarrassment of being seen to pursue in the courts a local father subsequently found not to have broken the law?
“Here we are as a local authority, with very limited cash to spend, deciding to take this matter to the High Court. But what was the rationale?
“Questions now need to be asked as to who took the decision to prosecute, what that decision has cost and how was it justified? It will be interesting to know what legal or other advice was taken before the decision was made and what, if any, views from the Department of Education (DfE) or our Director of Education from Hampshire were expressed. Knowing that a result would have national implications did we invite other Education Authorities to share this cost. If not, why not? Should we now be asking the DfE or Hampshire to contribute to some of the cost? There may be a justifiable case for this if they influenced or contributed to the decision – the trouble is we just do not know?
“Many councillors, not just Conservatives, have been asked these questions by Island Residents – so now we need some answers – it’s time for the Leader of the Council to be fully open and transparent on this issue!”
Image: tracy_olson under CC BY 2.0
