23-24/70

I refer to your request for information (FOI 23-24/70) dated 30 November 2023 which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).  

You requested the following information:  

(f) On how many occasions has the Scottish Information Commissioner required the GTC Scotland to respond to an information request or to respond to a requirement for review?

(g) For each of the cases at (f) how many of the required responses have not to-date been published in the disclosure log?

I have provided a response to each of your requests below.

Regarding (f), there have been no occasions where this has occurred. By way of advice and assistance under section 15 of FOISA I can explain that OSIC only require responses once an organisation has responded to an internal review request and a requester applies under section 47(1) of FOISA to request that OSIC consider the internal review response.

Regarding (g), no responses are awaiting publication on the disclosure log due to OSIC requiring a response to an information request or internal review.

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.

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I refer to your request dated 22 December 2023 for a review of the response you received on 22 December 2023 to your original information request (FOI23-24/70). 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 modified our original response.   

Your original request  

In your original request you stated the following: 

(f) On how many occasions has the Scottish Information Commissioner required the GTC Scotland to respond to an information request or to respond to a requirement for review?  

(g) For each of the cases at (f) how many of the required responses have not to-date been published in the disclosure log?

We responded to your request for information on 22 December 2023 indicating there have been no responses where the Scottish Information Commissioner required GTC Scotland to respond to an information request or a requirement for review. We also indicated that there are no responses awaiting publication on the Disclosure Log due to OSIC requiring a response to an information request or internal review.

On 22 December 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:

I hope you don’t mind if I offer my own advice and assistance, as your statement is incorrect. There is another situation where the OSIC might require an authority to respond to a review requirement and that is where an authority has not met its statutory obligations to do so and the requester applies under Section 47(1) of FOISA to request that OSIC considers that failure to respond.  

An example of where this has happened is this OSIC Decision against GTC Scotland:  

https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/sites/default/files/2023-08/Decision071-2023.pdf  

You will see that the decision is:  

“The Commissioner finds that the Authority failed to comply with Part 1 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) in dealing with the information request made by the Applicant. In particular, the Authority failed to respond to the Applicant’s request for information and requirement for review within the timescales laid down by sections 10(1) and 21(1) of FOISA. The Commissioner requires the Authority to respond to the Applicant’s requirement for review, by 1 September 2023.”  

Since it is clear that the Commissioner required GTC Scotland to respond to the Applicant’s requirement for review, your response to the question at (f) cannot be true. Please provide the true number. As you are aware from the upheld review FOI review 23-24/08 the OSIC website cannot be relied upon to give full and up-to-date information. Therefore please do not refer me to that website, but simply let me know the number.  

In response to the question at (g) you answered a different question from the one that I asked. I asked:  

“how many of the required responses have not to-date been published in the disclosure log”  

You answered a different question when you said:  

“no responses are awaiting publication on the disclosure log due to OSIC requiring a response to an information request or internal review”  

The question is different because of GTC Scotland’s policy of not publishing the responses the successful review requests (which means that the public don’t get to see where you got it wrong and any information that was subsequently provided). There may not be any responses awaiting publication, but that isn’t the same as there being no responses that have not to-date been published.  

Please could you respond with the true answer to the actual question that I asked.  

Our response 

Regarding your first query, you asked “on how many occasions has the Scottish Information Commissioner required the GTC Scotland to respond to an information request or respond to a requirement for review” in your original request. I can confirm that the information currently available on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website reflects the most up to date information as there are no further decisions awaiting publication on their website. However, to provide advice and assistance under section 15 of FOISA I have counted these for you. There has been 1 instance where the Commissioner required GTC Scotland to respond to an information request and 3 instances where the Commissioner required GTC Scotland to respond to an internal review request.

Regarding your second query, you asked “how many of the required responses have not to-date been published in the disclosure log?” In our response we indicated that there are no responses awaiting publication on the disclosure log due to OSIC requiring a response to an information request or internal review. In your review request you indicate that there is a distinction between responses awaiting publication and those which have not to date been published. None of the responses required by OSIC have to date been published on the Disclosure Log.

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