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Inner London Education Authority

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The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was the education authority for the 12 inner London boroughs, from 1965 until its abolition in 1990.

ILEA's Inner London
within Greater London

The Inner London Education Authority was established as a separate authority when the Greater London Council replaced the London County Council as the principal local authority for London. The LCC had held responsibility for education in Inner London from 1904, while in Outer London education was administered by local boroughs. The creation of the GLC covering the whole area required a separate authority covering only inner London.

Therefore ILEA consisted of the members of the GLC from the Inner London area, plus one member delegated from each of the inner London boroughs and the City of London. ILEA was not technically part of the GLC but its constitution made it work closely together; members of the GLC/ILEA tended to concentrate on one only although they attended the meetings of both. It was possible for ILEA to have a majority of Labour members when the GLC had a majority of Conservative members and this happened from 1970 to 1973 and 1977 to 1981.

The initial composition of ILEA in 1964 was 43 Labour members to 9 Conservatives, with 1 Independent. After the 1967 election the Conservatives won a majority and Christopher Chataway became Leader. However Labour won control in 1970 and Ashley Bramall began his long leadership. His term saw ILEA go over to comprehensive education, and the abolition of corporal punishment. He retained power despite the Conservative election victory in the 1977 GLC elections.

When the left under Ken Livingstone won control of the GLC after the 1981 elections, Bramall lost his position in an internal Labour Party vote, being replaced by Bryn Davies. Ken Livingstone later expressed regret for this decision and expressed his admiration for Bramall's leadership abilities. The remaining years of ILEA saw a succession of left-wing leaderships, none of which lasted long nor established a strong reputation. Frances Morrell, formerly an assistant to Tony Benn, lead a feminist ILEA from 1983 to 1987, before Neil Fletcher took over.

The abolition of the GLC, announced in 1983, led to a problem with ILEA as the Inner London Boroughs were adjudged not ready to handle education services. The Conservative government was led by Margaret Thatcher who had grown to dislike ILEA as over-spending and over-bureaucratic while Education Secretary in the early 1970s, and would have liked to abolish it. Eventually it decided to keep ILEA as a directly elected body. In May 1986, each London Parliamentary constituency elected two members of ILEA. Labour won an easy election victory.

Backbench Conservative MPs continued to oppose the continuation of ILEA. Eventually the Government's hand was forced when an amendment was tabled in the House of Commons, and the Government announced on February 4, 1988 that it would abolish ILEA in 1990. After a brief period under the London Residuary Body, education was transferred to the inner London boroughs.

Leaders of the Inner London Education Authority

Although ILEA was created in 1965, the post of Leader did not exist until April 1967.

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