Key Facts
- •Islington Council challenged the Secretary of State for Education's (SSE) decision not to revoke an Academy Order for Pooles Park Primary School.
- •The school was rated 'Inadequate' and placed in special measures, leading to the mandatory Academy Order.
- •The Council argued the school was financially unviable as an Academy, citing flawed projections and insufficient consideration of relevant material.
- •The SSE argued a suitable sponsor had been found, offering a viable plan despite declining pupil numbers.
- •The key dispute centered on whether the SSE's decision was irrational and whether the Tameside duty (to make adequate inquiries) was breached.
Legal Principles
Irrationality (Wednesbury unreasonableness): A decision is irrational if no reasonable decision-maker could have reached it.
Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223
Failure to consider legally relevant material: A decision-maker must consider all legally relevant material before making a decision.
R (Law Society) v Lord Chancellor [2019] 1 WLR 1649
Tameside duty: Decision-makers must take reasonable steps to acquaint themselves with relevant material.
Secretary of State for Education and Science v Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council [1977] AC 1014
Sufficiency of information: The decision-maker needs sufficient, not exhaustive, information to make an informed assessment.
R (National Association of Health Stores & Anr) v Department of Health [2005] EWCA Civ 154
Outcomes
Permission to appeal was refused.
Neither ground of appeal had a real prospect of success. The Judge correctly applied the legal tests, and the Minister had sufficient information to make a rational decision. The Council's arguments were based on misunderstandings of the evidence and the legal tests.