23-24/55

I provide a response to each of your requests below. Please note that where we refer to Registrants this relates to teachers who are or were registered with GTC Scotland.

1. Our Register is publicly available here and indicates whether a Registrant has been removed. Therefore, as the information is otherwise accessible, I have applied section 25(1) of FOISA. Furthermore, you asked whether GTC Scotland has removed those “education professionals” whose “identity can be determined” from the articles you provided us with. Please note that we are unable to confirm the identity of unnamed individuals referenced within the articles, for example witnesses within the hearings, as this would breach data protection principles set out in data protection legislation. FOISA does not require us to provide this sort of information as it is exempt under section 38(1)(b).
2. From 1 January 2021 to 10 November 2023, a total of 6 Registrants who are or were at the time of referral, employed by Aberdeenshire Council have been removed from the GTC Scotland Register.
3. A total of 5 cases regarding Registrants who are, or were at the time of referral, employed by Aberdeenshire are currently under investigation. These referrals were received on 11 December 2019, 09 November 2021, 2 February 2022, 15 September 2022 and 10 January 2023 and remain ongoing.
4. From 1 January 2021 to 10 November 2023 a total of 86 Registrants have been removed from the Register with 49 related to conduct and 37 related to competence. Of the 86 Registrants removed, 1 was reported to Police Scotland out of the 49 related to conduct. We would not report competence-based hearings to Police Scotland. Of the 49 Registrants removed for behaviour relating to conduct, 47 were reported to the local authority as in 2 cases they did not have an employer at the time of the referral. Of the 37 Registrants removed in a competence-based hearing, each of the local authorities was aware as the recommendation for removal comes from them.

I hope this information is helpful. If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk to request GTCS conduct a review of this decision. You should describe the original request and explain your grounds of review. You have 40 working days from receipt of this decision to submit a review request. When the review process has been completed, if you are still dissatisfied, you may use the Scottish Information Commissioner`s guidance on making an appeal to make an appeal to the Commissioner.

I refer to your request dated 3 December 2023 for a review of the response you received on 22 November 2023 to your original information request (FOI 23-24/55). I have been appointed to undertake the internal review.

I have considered your original request for information, your review request, and our organisation’s obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). For the reasons set out below, I have concluded that the original decision should be upheld without modification.   

Your original request  

In your original request you stated the following: 

6a: Have you removed all the education professionals named or whose identity can be determined from roles in education and from your rolls who appear in these articles? If not, how many were removed from roles and your rolls?

6b: How many individuals has the GTCS removed from teaching in Aberdeenshire in the last 2 years?

6c: How many active cases are you investigating regarding Aberdeenshire and how long have these investigations lasted?

6d: In the last two years how many teachers were struck off your register, how many were reported to local authorities and Police Scotland?

We responded to your request for information on 22 November 2023 applying section 25 of FOISA to one query under your request and providing you with information for every other query.

On 30 November 2023, you sent an email requesting we review our decision under section 20(1) of FOISA.  

Your internal review request  

In your review request you state:

Further to your reply below, your response to my questions 6a though 6d cannot be answered by simply accessing the link you supplied. There is no public-facing search tool/interface that would allow me to search on the criteria of struck off. Neither is there any means to search for a list of teachers in Aberdeenshire. Therefore, please supply me with the data you hold showing teachers in Aberdeenshire who have been struck off your register as a matter of urgency.  

I do not that named individual is still listed as an approved teacher. I assume therefore that the GTCS is happy to have them working with pupils and working in the sector. Please supply lines for publication before Thursday 7 December at noon to confirm the position re named individuals status.

Our response 

Regarding Question 6a, you asked if we have “removed all the education professionals named or whose identity can be determined” within certain press articles you provided us with. For the avoidance of doubt, we asked you to clarify on 18 October and again on 31 October exactly which individuals the request should apply to, as this would avoid inferring the identity of individuals. You did not provide us with the list of names we should consider as part of the request and so we were unable to confirm exactly which individuals were to be considered.  

However, given there is a publicly available Register here we indicated that you could use this to search against the names within the articles. We note that you have been able to successfully use the Register to determine the registration status of an individual and so are able to use the Register as we intended in our response. Whilst the Search the Register function requires a Registrant to be searched individually and not based on category, there is a Key at the bottom of the page which allows for the Registrant’s status to be determined, including ‘reprimand’, ‘removal’ etc. Please note that our reference to the Search the Register function applies only to Question 6a as we provided information directly in response to Question 6b to 6d. Therefore, our response remains unmodified.  

Regarding 6b, you asked how “many individuals has the GTCS removed from teaching in Aberdeenshire in the last 2 years” under a separate query. We indicated that a total of 6 Registrants who are or were at the time of referral employed by the Aberdeenshire Council had been removed from the GTC Scotland Register. Therefore, as this response directly answers your query our response remains unmodified.  

Regarding 6c, you asked how many active cases GTC Scotland are “investigating regarding Aberdeenshire and how long have these investigations lasted” under a separate query. We indicated that a total of 5 cases are currently under investigation and specified when each began. Therefore, as this response directly answers your query our response remains unmodified.  

Regarding 6d, you asked how many Registrants “were struck off your register, how many were reported to local authorities and Police Scotland?” We requested clarification from you on 18 October and 31 October as to whether you wanted to know the number of Registrants who, having been removed from the Register were also reported to local authorities and Police Scotland, or whether you wanted to know how many had been removed from the Register, reported to local authorities and Police Scotland separately. We indicated that 86 Registrants had been removed, of which 1 had been reported to Police Scotland (out of 49 related to conduct matters); and that of the 86 Registrants, 84 had been reported to local authorities as in 2 cases the Registrant did not have an employer at the time of the referral. Therefore, as this response directly answers your query our response remains unmodified.

I hope that this has been of some assistance but if you remain dissatisfied with the responses you have received, you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. You must do so within six months of receipt of this response. The Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on making an appeal describes the process, including the application form. Further information, including relevant contact details is available on the website. www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal