R v Inner London Education Authority, ex parte Ali and Another
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 14 February 1990 |
| Date | 14 February 1990 |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
Queen's Bench Division
Before Lord Justice Woolf and Mr Justice Pill
Education - local education authority - provision of primary school places
The failure of the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) to provide sufficient places for primary school children in the Tower Hamlets area was not open to attack in judicial review proceedings because, in the circumstances, there was no prospect of the court exercising its discretion to grant relief.
The Queen's Bench Divisional Court so held in dismissing a joint application for judicial review brought by Mortuz Ali and Kumar Murshid complaining that ILEA had failed to secure the availability of sufficient schools to provide primary education for all children in the Tower Hamlets area and seeking damages for the disruption caused to the education of the first applicant's child during the period when ILEA failed to provide him with a primary education.
The court was deciding the preliminary issue whether in view of the decision of the Secretary of State for Education that "there were no grounds for him to issue a direction to ILEA under section 99 of the Education Act 1944" (a decision which was not itself impugned) (a) the court had jurisdiction to hear an application for judicial review complaining that ILEA had failed to discharge any duty imposed on them by section 8 of the 1944 Act and (b) the court should grant any relief in respect of such breach.
Section 8(1) of the Education Act 1944, as relevant, provides:
"(1) It shall be the duty of every local education authority to secure that there shall be available for their area sufficient schools (a) for providing primary education, that is to say, full time education suitable to the requirements of junior pupils … and the schools available for an area shall not be deemed to be sufficient unless they are sufficient in number, character, and equipment to afford for all pupils opportunities for education…".
Mr Frederic Reynold, QC and Mr Manjit Gill for the applicants; Mr James Goudie, QC and Miss Alice Robinson for ILEA.
LORD JUSTICE WOOLF said that it was important to recognize that the duty which section 8 placed upon the local education authority was in very broad and general terms. It was the counterpart of the even wider duty placed upon the secretary of state by section 1.
That type of duty could be described as a target duty. While...
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