Why do so many pupils miss out?

Published: 10 December 2010

LABOUR councillors are calling on education secretary Michael Gove to launch an inquiry into Westminster City Council’s failure to find school places for over 360 young people currently not at school. 

Westminster Conservatives’ decision to slash the number of staff in its education department has left the council unable to cope with its statutory duties, resulting in the large numbers without a school place.

In addition, the school improvement support that the council is able  to offer schools in difficulty has also been reduced with the Saltram Crescent Pupil Referral Unit receiving an “inadequate progress” report following a recent Ofsted inspection. 

The report said: “Other contributory factors were the local authority’s failure to monitor the situation closely”.

Because they are cutting staff too quickly and too deeply, there are simply not enough people left at City Hall to do even the basic job of finding schools for children without a place. 

The council’s education department is no longer fit for purpose. 

There is inadequate capacity to do the basic job and the sooner Mr Gove steps in to tell the city council that it must recruit more staff to do its job, the better.

In the meantime, Mr Gove should personally contact every one of the 360 families to apologise for Westminster’s failure to find their child a school place.

Cllr Paul Dimoldenberg
Leader of the Labour Group