Jason Rust: Council's blind fight to school ruling comes at a high cost

Jason Rust

AT WHAT stage do pragmatism and common sense prevail over the strictures of a governing authority, which feels it knows best and is determined to get its own way? The recent case of a 13-year-old girl with profound learning disability and severe visual impairment refused a placement by the City of Edinburgh Council at the Royal Blind School, which would meet her educational, social and emotional needs has starkly thrown up this dichotomy.

An independent expert tribunal ruled that the placement at the Royal Blind School was in Ciara McGearey's best interests, as she had previously been a pupil and learned sign language. The parents and their lay representative were successful; the council with its legal team and counsel was not.

Such a tribunal is meant to be one of the routes for parents to access if they are in dispute with their education authority and parties are not encouraged to use legal representation and, indeed, legal aid is not available for a hearing. It aims to be "user-friendly" and be less formal for parents and young people than a court setting.

The council is now appealing to the Inner House of the Court of Session. The Court of Session is certainly not user-friendly and for the parents to have to defend this tribunal decision will, in the first instance, cost them thousands of pounds.

Thousands are being spent on lawyers, which should instead be spent on educating a young girl in the school best suited to her needs. The council's stance is totally out of keeping with the spirit of the legislation and removes completely any financial justification for refusing a place at the preferred school. There is no guarantee of an early date for the appeal to be heard, but even two or three months is an unacceptable time out of a child's life.

Even if the council is successful in its appeal, the case will be remitted back to a newly-convened tribunal and will have to be heard all over again, at even more cost to the authority – and Ciara will still be out of school.

The council has not recognised the unique family circumstances in this case. Both parents have served on operational tours and Ciara's father is to be posted to Afghanistan. The blatant refusal to support and consider the additional pressures on service families and to recognise the military covenant will be viewed with contempt by army families and others paying their council tax.

It cannot be acceptable that a council will go to any and all lengths to thwart the rights and needs of a child and family and seem able to justify its squandering of public funds.

In 1946, Terence Rattigan wrote The Winslow Boy , in which a father fights to clear his son's name. It was based on an event that happened in the early 20th century. In Scotland, we do not seem to have moved forward.

Of course, the playing field is not level and the resources of one family are somewhat less infinite in terms of time and expense than those of a local authority. There comes a time, however, when rule-bound authorities need to question the legitimacy of pursuing a course of action to the detriment of a family or young person and be aware not only of natural justice for the "little person", but the wider perception in the public eye of that authority in the process.

Government, local or otherwise, does not always know best. As Thomas Jefferson commented, "the less we use our power, the greater it will be".

It is within the power of the local authority to appeal the decision of the expert tribunal, but the reality of the situation would suggest it is not in anyone's interests, be it family, taxpayers or the council's itself.

• Jason Rust is a councillor for the Colinton/Fairmilehead ward in Edinburgh