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LABOUR IRKED AS EDUCATION LEAD LOSES SEAT ON ADMISSIONS BOARD

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8 February 2010

Oliver Pugh
oliverp@southwarknews.org

Labour has been kicked off the education board that runs Southwark school admissions, despite being the second largest party in the council.

The move has irked Labour members as the councillor concerned, Veronica Ward, is also the party's spokesperson for children's services and education.

As well as holding this relevant position in the ranks of the second largest party in the borough, Cllr Ward had also attended more meetings than council leader Nick Stanton, who leads on education for his group, and the other councillor member of the group, Tory Cllr Toby Eckersley.

According to Cllr Stanton the group, the Schools Admissions Forum, decided to reduce the number of councillors that would sit on it from three to two in favour of more parent representation.

So the decision to boot Cllr Ward off the group in favour of Cllr Eckersley was a surprise to Labour, which expected the forum to be revised to reflect the balance of seats at the council.

Southwark Labour's education and children's services spokesperson, Cllr Veronica Ward, said: "I just can't understand what's happened with this decision.

"Parents in East Dulwich and Peckham Rye have genuine concerns about the way the admissions process for primary schools is handled and I want to fight their corner. But the Lib Dems and Tories have chosen to put their own interests ahead of the interests of the parents they're here to serve.

"They'd rather pretend that everything's OK than resolve the serious issues."
Cllr Nick Stanton denied that Cllr Ward would now not be involved in the scrutiny of admissions.
He said: "I'm not sure what the fuss is about. It was the forum's decision to reduce the number of councillor representatives from three to two.

Cllr Ward already sits on the children's services and education scrutiny sub committee which can review any topic within this field. So, in addition to the leader it seemed appropriate to reappoint the councillor who was not on this very important scrutiny committee."

The School Admission Forum is an influential council group that presides over the rules of admittance to Southwark schools, with the power to examine, review and affect almost any admission issue.

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