A proposed system that would see pupil placement requests for Dundee schools made in Edinburgh has been rejected by Dundee City Council.
Most parents choose local catchment schools for their children.
If these requests are rejected, a review process follows, currently conducted by councils at education appeal committees.
The new scheme would mean that pupil placement requests would be heard by a tribunal appointed in Edinburgh, rather than council-run committees.
The council’s Liberal Democrat group have praised an “unequivocal” rejection of the Scottish Government proposal, written by a council officer.
The rejection was written as part of a public consultation on the idea.
In this, council education manager, Jennifer King, highlighted potential problems from moving the process outside of local decision-making.
She wrote the proposal is: “likely to remove local accountability; prevent agility and flexibility which is needed between schools, parents and officers in order to make decisions quickly when circumstances change for young people.”
She continued: “Moving appeals to Scottish Tribunals is likely to cause further delays in decision-making.”
The Liberal Democrat group asked the director of the children and families service, Audrey May, for a council response to the public consultation. This ran from mid-November to February 6.
The next step is for ministers to consider all opinions and then decide whether to set up the tribunals in place of the council committees or make changes to the current system.
‘Well-managed local system’
Councillor for Strathmartine, Daniel Coleman, said :“Dundee has a well-established and well-managed local system of hearing appeals over school placing requests that takes into account all concerns and points made by parents and carers.
“It is best that these decisions are taken in Dundee by people with extensive local knowledge of our schools and it makes no sense whatsoever to centralise these appeals and have the decisions made by a Scottish Government quango.
“The Liberal Democrat group is therefore very pleased at the education officers’ excellent response that argues against taking these appeals away from Dundee and managing them instead by an unelected quango based at Saughton House in Edinburgh.
“We seriously question how this quango’s members would have the local knowledge of Dundee and its schools to allow for fair and well-evidenced appeals decisions.”
‘Tired of centralisation’
Broughty Ferry councillor, Craig Duncan added: “We are frankly completely tired of the SNP’s continual drive to take away local decision-making and centralise everything away from local communities.
“It is difficult to argue that there were any advantages to local communities from previous SNP centralisation such as policing services.
“Apart from this attempt at taking away school placing appeals from local decision-making, the SNP is also currently trying to centralise care services into a National Care Service, a disastrous policy that is already seeing costs soaring and it looks like may cost up to £1.3 billion to deliver over the next five years – a disaster for both care services and public finances.
“We feel the days of the SNP’s fixation on taking away local services and running everything nationally by unelected quangos should be over.
“Ultimately the SNP Government proposal to create a centralised school places appeals system could have a detrimental effect on children locally and nationally and we are therefore pleased at the City Council’s opposition to such a move.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “All the responses to the consultation will be carefully considered.
“The feedback will inform any decisions on whether the responsibilities of Education Appeal Committees should transfer to Scottish Tribunals, and if not, what improvements can be made to the current system.”
