A regional daily was justified in reporting details about the schooling of a council member’s child, the press watchdog has ruled.

The Independent Press Standards Organisation has dismissed a complaint by Councillor Joanne Collins, of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council, against the South Wales Argus.

The Argus reported criticism of Cllr Collins, who holds the council’s education brief, after allegations she had “sent her children to a school outside of the county”.

The Independent councillor, pictured, argued the Newport-based daily had intruded into her child’s time at school unnecessarily.

But IPSO found in favour of the Argus, ruling that the public interest element to the story because of the councillor’s responsibilities when coupled with the lack of detail that was published about her child, was proportionate to any intrusion that may have resulted.

Complaining under Clause 6 (Children) of the Editors’ Code of Practice, Cllr Collins claimed publication of the story, and the scrutiny it generated, had intruded into her child’s time at school.

She was particularly concerned that the comments function was enabled on the Argus website, which had led to members of the public naming the school her child attended.

The councillor added only one of her children went to school outside of the county but said the story had also had a negative effect on both her other child, who attended a different school, and her husband, due to the public scrutiny their family received as a result of its publication.

Denying a breach of Code, the Argus said no details about the children were included, except for the name of their mother, and said there were many other examples of newspapers publishing stories on the schooling choices of politicians at both national and local level.

The paper believed its reporting was justified and proportionate with the public interest in the story, which had been discussed in advance between a local democracy reporter and an audience and content editor.

The reporter explained the background and the reason opposition councillors felt it was important in light of the councillor’s responsibility for education in the county, resulting in agreement there was a strong public interest in the story being published.

The Argus said it believed that it would have been failing in its duty to its readership if it had ignored the issue in this case, first raised by the council opposition party, but withheld from identifying the school because it did not consider this was strictly necessary to cover the story effectively.

The paper added it was regrettable that readers had posted comments that named the school, but said these comments had been deleted as soon as it was made aware of them and prior to the matter being referred to it by IPSO.

IPSO found that the subject of the story, which considered the criticisms of an active councillor in charge of education within the county, was in the public interest.

It accepted the Argus’s argument that a vital role of the press is to be able to scrutinise and criticise politicians, including decisions which they take relating to their personal lives, as long as this is carried out in accordance with the Editors’ Code.

The Committee said Cllr Collins was the councillor in charge of education in the county, so the choices made about her children’s education was of particular relevance to the public interest.

IPSO ruled that this, in conjunction with the level of detail about the child, meant the story was proportionate to any intrusion that may have resulted from its publication.

The complaint was not upheld, and the full adjudication can be read here.