Just to let everyone know, the official judgment has now been published which confirms in black and white that the councils decision to cut nursery provision for three year olds made in January 2014 was unlawful. All three year olds remain entitled to FULL TIME nursery education the term following the childs third birthday. RCTCBC have no more excuses for delaying in instructing an independent investigation into why they got it so wrong! Those at fault must be held accountable - the judgment makes it clear that the council did not do what they are legally obliged (and paid) to do! A few of the points made in the judgment include: It was obvious that RCTCBC had acted unlawfully: The Council was put on notice on 30 January and 24 February as to the legality of the decision but nevertheless went ahead and set the budget on 26 February on the basis that the decision was lawful. It plainly, in my view, was not. Reversing the unlawful decision will not cause budgetary or other problems: I am not persuaded that there is the detriment on good administration that is suggested............In my judgment this claim is arguable on all the grounds of challenge. Accordingly permission is granted ...... The decision of the Council will be quashed. Budget was the councils only consideration: The Council did not ask itself the question as to what is sufficient nursery education for its area....there is no evidence that the Cabinet considered 15 hours per week as providing sufficient education. The Cabinet may merely have considered 15 hours per week to be an appropriate number of hours in the circumstances, having regard to the Councils budgetary problems. Officers told the Cabinet what they wanted to hear: Members are heavily reliant on officers for advice in taking these decisions. That makes it doubly important for officers not simply to tell members what they want to hear, but to be rigorous in both enquiring and reporting to them. Council must follow the law and not leave things to luck: Where the attention of the Council is not drawn to the governing statutory provision and the question they should have been addressing, then if a decision is lawful, it is more by good luck than judgment. Enough of this nothing ruled in or out and January Review nonsense RCTCBC. It is abundantly clear from the judgment that to do things lawfully would take several years. The judges views of the local authoritys reporting cause great concern, particularly as the officers responsible for the reports referred to are still in their well paid jobs. However it is not just the officers at fault, the Cabinet are accountable too. They failed to ask questions and passed whatever was put in front of them, without considering whether it was legally correct, or in the interests of those they are supposed to represent. And lets not forget the inappropriate behaviour of many cabinet members, from falling asleep during cabinet meetings, to making offensive hand gestures at the public and other members during meetings, as well as general inappropriate and offensive behaviour in breach of the Code of Conduct. Time to shape up and ship out RCTCBC!
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 12:11:42 +0000
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