UPDATED: Conservative Councillors on the Isle of Wight Council have called for disclosure of the full costs incurred in taking the recent Jon Platt school attendance case to the High Court.
As previously reported by Island Echo, the 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. Jon Platt has estimated the overall costs to the Isle of Wight Council at around £30,000, including over £14,000 of Mr Platt’s costs that the Council have been ordered to pay.
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. He said:
“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?
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Cllr Stewart says that questions now need to be asked as to who took the decision to prosecute, what the cost has been of that decision and how it was justified.
He added:
“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?”
The Isle of Wight conservatives are calling for the leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Cllr Jonathan Bacon, to be fully open and transparent on the issue.
Many users of social media have called for Cllr Bacon to resign from his post as leader of the Council.
UPDATE @ 12:00 – In a statement issued this morning, Councillor Jonathan Bacon, leader of the Isle of Wight Council, has said:
“In June 2013, less than one month after the council was elected, it received a Ministerial Direction from the Department for Education to improve the outcomes it provided for children. We have, therefore, followed all of the guidance, advice and direction issued from the Department for Education, which underpins why it was felt important that we pursued the case heard in the High Court on Friday.
“Having reflected on the case over the weekend I stand by the decision to bring it before the High Court. We had sought a clear binding ruling to give clarity for parents, schools, the council and the courts in relation to unauthorised absence from school.
“While I was surprised that this clarity was not forthcoming in the judgement of the High Court on Friday, the resultant expression from the Department for Education that it will now ‘look to change the legislation [and] strengthen statutory guidance to schools and local authorities’, means that the Isle of Wight Council was justified in taking this case to the High Court.
“More problems seem to have arisen rather than have been solved since the introduction of fines on parents/carers for unauthorised absence, and the removal of head teachers’ discretion. New clearer rules will help local authorities administrate national policy more effectively, if this is the result of this case then our original hopes and intentions will have been achieved; to give clarity to all”
Councillor Bacon added:
“Central to this case and the intention to properly and sensibly manage unauthorised school absence, is the absolute need to maintain and improve educational outcomes. The Isle of Wight has seen steady improvement in its educational outcomes over the past two years, following a period of historically low standards compared to other areas in the country.
“We are determined to achieve continued improvement year-on-year, and reach a level of educational attainment on the Island which ranks alongside the very best in the country. So, encouraging and upholding attendance , to which attainment at school is inextricably linked, should be both fundamental and at the core of any new approach.”
The council’s Executive, at its meeting in January 2016, agreed that the council would “continue to promote high attendance in Isle of Wight schools, ensuring agreed practices are being followed and providing appropriate challenge where necessary”. It also agreed to challenge schools to reduce persistent absence where it is high and in particular, to support them in tracking the attendance of vulnerable pupils and intervening where appropriate to ensure full attendance. The attainment of better educational outcomes has a direct impact upon future economic wellbeing. Success at school promotes self-esteem, attendance and good behaviour, leading to greater community cohesion, adult independence and active citizenship.
Regarding the next steps moving forward, Councillor Bacon has said:
“As a parent myself, I can understand the point of view that the increased costs of holidays during school holidays can be a barrier to families accessing holiday time together. I believe too, that time together is of huge emotional benefit to children and to families.
I hope we have now driven this debate to a place where the inequities of the current system can now be addressed; however following Friday’s decision we look to the Department for Education to do this. I will be asking that the Department for Education takes full account of the views of parents, teachers and educational professionals in the work it must now undertake.
“In the meantime the council will continue to implement the government’s existing statutory guidance around attendance until further clarification is received from the Department for Education but the council will have to take into account when deciding if enforcement action is warranted that in this particular case the High Court ruled that 90 per cent was regular attendance”.
