Officer’s Abernyte apology
A discussion of a report summarising decisions made around Abernyte Primary began with an apology from a council chief this week.
At a scrutiny committee on Wednesday, councillors examined a report outlining the decision process to close the school.
The report also looked at why PKC sought a judicial review after Scottish ministers called in the decision, and what led to the school closure review panel overturning PKC’s decision.
Since the school closure review panel overturned the council’s decision in July, PKC’s lifelong learning committee has agreed to consider a catchment review and the possibility of a nursery at the school.
On August 26, the lifelong learning committee also agreed to let the scrutiny committee carry out an independent review.
This was after councillors questioned why PKC spent almost £110,000 on a failed legal case to “test” the “inteference by Scottish ministers.”
Addressing PKC’s scrutiny committee this week, executive director of education and children’s services Sheena Devlin said: “We are sorry that the advice internal and external that was sought and the professional judgements that were part of this process were not in fact supported or agreed with.
“We fully accept that there is much for us to reflect on in relation to both the outcome of both the judicial review and also the judgement of the school closure review panel.
“We have been and will continue to consider the implications of the judgements and commit to making the changes now required to all processes in the future.”
SNP Blairgowrie and Glens councillor Tom McEwan, who sits on both the lifelong learning committee and scrutiny committee, asked why officers did not come to the executive sub-committee of lifelong learning before deciding to take court action.
PKC’s head of legal and governance services Lisa Simpson said: “The raising of court action is classed as an operational matter.”
She said that was “custom and practice” but that the issue over whether the discussion could have been broader was something they could reflect on.
Ms Simpson then added: “But the issue of whether or not we raise court action is an operational matter so therefore, in effect, there was nothing to take back to a committee for approval - or decision.
“We just did it in a way that business has always been managed in terms of a courtesy and a professional discussion with the administration leader and the relevant convener of the committee. But I’m happy to reflect on that to see if there is something that perhaps we can look at.”
Responding to a question from SNP group leader Cllr Grant Laing, Ms Simpson also rejected suggestions the action had been promoted as a “test” case.
She added: “The outcome of this particular case will have consequences not just for Perth and Kinross Council but for other councils acting in the capacity as education authority in these decisions.”
In responding to the questions over the number of points lost and won, PKC’s head of legal said the judgement itself was “really complicated” in terms of the arguments being “very nuanced” and about “legal interpretation.” She told councillors, as part of the review process, she would be willing to go through the particular legal issues and the points they were trying to make.
Ms Simpson added: “This was not a case that was about making sure that Abernyte school in particular stayed closed.
“This was a judicial review about protecting the integrity of local decisionmaking from what we perceived and what the external legal advice was agreeing with us, was an unreasonable interference at ministerial level.”
In response to a question for Conservative Strathmore councillor Colin Stewart about who took the final decision, Ms Simpson said: “Clearly it was a collective decision.
“I mean I don’t sit in splendid isolation and decide to take legal action in isolation. “I act on the information that’s fed to me.” She said she felt there was an important principle in terms of an “unfair interference” on the decision democratically taken by the lifelong learning committee.