Inner London Education Authority

Inner London Education Authority

Plaque on London County Hall
Boroughs within the Inner London Education Authority Area
Abbreviation	ILEA
Predecessor	London County Council
Successor	12 Inner London borough councils and the City of London Corporation
Formation	1 April 1965
Extinction	1 April 1990
Type	Local education authority
Legal status	Special committee (1965–1986) Body corporate (1986–1990)
Headquarters	London County Hall
Location	Lambeth, Greater London
Region served	Inner London
Membership	58 directly elected members (1986–1990)
Parent organisation	Greater London Council (1965–1986)

The Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was an ad hoc local education authority for the City of London and the 12 Inner London boroughs from 1965 until its abolition in 1990. The authority was reconstituted as a directly elected body corporate on 1 April 1986.

The Inner London Education Authority was established when the Greater London Council (GLC) replaced the London County Council as the principal local authority for London in 1965. The LCC had taken over responsibility for education in Inner London from the London School Board in 1904. In what was to become Outer London, education was primarily administered by the relevant county councils and county boroughs, with some functions delegated to second-tier councils in the area.

The Herbert Commission report in 1960 recommended the establishment of the Greater London Council. It advocated a London-wide division of educational powers between the GLC and the London boroughs. The GLC would be responsible for strategic control of schools, and the boroughs for routine management. This part of the report was rejected by the government. Councils in the future Outer London area wanted greater control over education, preventing the creation of a London-wide LEA, and there was strong opposition from teachers and other bodies to the idea of dividing up the LCC LEA. The London Government Act 1963 therefore created the ILEA to inherit the educational responsibilities of the LCC, and gave Outer London boroughs LEA status. The ILEA was originally conceived as a provisional body whose status would be reviewed before 1970, but the Labour government made its status permanent in 1965.

The ILEA did not cover the small area of North Woolwich, which was part of the County of London but was transferred to the new London Borough of Newham in outer London.

The ILEA had a somewhat anomalous legal status. Technically the GLC itself was the education authority for inner London, but it was both administratively difficult and politically unjust to allow outer London members of the GLC to have an input. Therefore, the GLC delegated responsibility to the ILEA as a 'special committee', consisting 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. Members of the GLC/ILEA tended to concentrate on one duty only, although they attended the meetings of both.