24-25/21

I refer to your request for information dated 15July 2024 (FOI 24 -25/21) in which you submitted various queries regarding referrals made to the General Teaching Council for Scotland which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).

We requested clarification from you 15 July as to whether this relates to conduct or competence referrals or both. You responded on the same day that this would relate to conduct referrals only.

As part of your request, you submitted the following queries:

1. The number of referrals for each Local Authority from 2021 to date;
2. Each referral to include whether it was investigated by GTC Scotland, the local authority, not investigated at all or not yet addressed as well as whether the referral went to a full hearing and if so the outcome of the investigation.
3. The dates for each referral made for the Highland Council to include the date of the outcome and the number of active referrals from the local authority.
4. The number of active referrals for all local authorities, how many full-time employees work on referrals, who funds GTC Scotland and who it reports to.  

We indicated on 16 July that due to the significant amount of time and resources that would be spent locating, retrieving and interrogating the 451 identified conduct referrals we determined that section12(1) of FOISA would apply due to the excessive cost of compliance. We provided a detailed Fees Notice and advised that if you were to amend the scope of your original request this would reduce the amount and bring it within the £100 exemption.  

On 16 July you indicated this request could be restricted to the following queries:

1. The number of referrals from Highland Council since 2021 including the including date of referral and date of outcome;
2. The number of active referrals from Highland Council local authority and date received;
3. The number of Full-time equivalent employees working on investigations;
4. The total number of active referrals as of the date of your original request and the dates they were received,
5. Detail on whether GTCS refers any less serious concerns to other local authorities to investigate other than the one where a concern arose;
6. An explanation as to “why the two Recent Decisions on the website” relate to events that occurred years ago.

Whilst the collation of all the dates under your fourth query would still exceed the £100 exemption under section 12(1) of FOISA, we agreed to waive this fee as part of our duty to provide advice and assistance under section 15 of FOISA. 

Please see our response to your queries below.

The number of referrals from Highland Council since 2021 including the including date of referral and date of outcome.

Between January 2021 and 15 July 2024, GTC Scotland received 19 conduct referrals related to Registrants employed by the Highland Council. The dates of referral and date of closure (if applicable) are shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1: The referral and case closure date for 19 conduct referrals received from the Highland Council between January 2021 and 15 July 2024

The number of active referrals from Highland Council local authority and the date they were received.

As demonstrated by the table above, as of 15 July 2024, there are currently 11 open conduct referrals.

The number of full-time equivalent staff working at GTC Scotland on investigations.

As of 15 July 2024, there are 6 full time equivalent staff working at GTC Scotland on investigations.

The total number of active referrals as of July 15 2024, and the date they were received.

As of 15 July 2024, there are 196 open conduct referrals. The dates when the referrals were received are as follows:

• 30/09/2016
• 29/06/2017
• 02/08/2017
• 12/02/2018
• 07/09/2018
• 29/11/2018
• 18/04/2019
• 20/05/2019
• 10/07/2019
• 05/07/2019
• 29/07/2019
• 28/08/2019
• 17/09/2019
• 17/10/2019
• 17/10/2019
• 05/12/2019
• 11/12/2019
• 10/01/2020
• 10/01/2020
• 10/02/2020
• 10/04/2020
• 18/05/2020
• 17/06/2020
• 01/09/2020
• 07/10/2020
• 08/10/2020
• 06/01/2021
• 07/01/2021
• 15/01/2021
• 04/02/2021
• 16/03/2021
• 29/03/2021
• 01/04/2021
• 13/04/2021
• 14/04/2021
• 30/04/2021
• 11/05/2021
• 02/06/2021
• 18/06/2021
• 01/07/2021
• 04/08/2021
• 12/08/2021
• 14/08/2021
• 01/09/2021
• 02/09/2021
• 07/10/2021
• 19/10/2021
• 08/11/2021
• 09/11/2021
• 16/11/2021
• 16/11/2021
• 06/12/2021
• 14/12/2021
• 17/12/2021
• 10/02/2022
• 14/02/2022
• 17/02/2022
• 01/03/2022
• 10/03/2022
• 17/03/2022
• 17/03/2022
• 14/04/2022
• 05/05/2022
• 09/05/2022
• 10/05/2022
• 13/05/2022
• 13/05/2022
• 27/05/2022
• 08/06/2022
• 09/06/2022
• 14/06/2022
• 22/06/2022
• 28/06/2022
• 07/07/2022
• 26/07/2022
• 02/08/2022
• 09/08/2022
• 12/08/2022
• 26/08/2022
• 15/09/2022
• 29/09/2022
• 10/10/2022
• 19/10/2022
• 27/10/2022
• 03/11/2022
• 10/11/2022
• 01/12/2022
• 08/12/2022
• 15/12/2022
• 18/12/2022
• 23/12/2022
• 13/01/2023
• 13/01/2023
• 17/01/2023
• 19/01/2023
• 27/01/2023
• 27/01/2023
• 03/02/2023
• 20/02/2023
• 24/02/2023
• 06/03/2023
• 08/03/2023
• 09/03/2023
• 13/03/2023
• 22/03/2023
• 29/03/2023
• 29/03/2023
• 03/04/2023
• 03/04/2023
• 04/04/2023
• 06/04/2023
• 14/04/2023
• 21/04/2023
• 26/04/2023
• 05/05/2023
• 12/05/2023
• 15/05/2023
• 23/05/2023
• 31/05/2023
• 06/06/2023
• 16/06/2023
• 22/06/2023
• 25/06/2023
• 04/07/2023
• 12/07/2023
• 13/07/2023
• 26/07/2023
• 01/08/2023
• 21/08/2023
• 30/08/2023
• 04/09/2023
• 05/09/2023
• 17/10/2023
• 25/10/2023
• 25/10/2023
• 30/10/2023
• 03/11/2023
• 08/11/2023
• 22/11/2023
• 24/11/2023
• 24/11/2023
• 28/11/2023
• 30/11/2023
• 01/12/2023
• 15/12/2023
• 18/12/2023
• 18/12/2023
• 20/12/2023
• 20/12/2023
• 04/01/2024
• 04/01/2024
• 12/01/2024
• 12/01/2024
• 16/01/2024
• 19/01/2024
• 25/01/2024
• 29/01/2024
• 31/01/2024
• 05/02/2024
• 08/02/2024
• 12/02/2024
• 15/02/2024
• 20/02/2024
• 28/02/2024
• 05/03/2024
• 08/03/2024
• 20/03/2024
• 21/03/2024
• 25/03/2024
• 11/04/2024
• 12/04/2024
• 23/04/2024
• 25/04/2024
• 26/04/2024
• 29/04/2024
• 02/05/2024
• 20/05/2024
• 20/05/2024
• 27/05/2024
• 31/05/2024
• 05/06/2024
• 06/06/2024
• 08/06/2024
• 10/06/2024
• 11/06/2024
• 19/06/2024
• 27/06/2024
• 28/06/2024
• 28/06/2024
• 01/07/2024
• 08/07/2024
• 09/07/2024
• 10/07/2024

‍Whether GTC Scotland refers any less serious concerns to other local authorities to investigate other than the one where a concern arose.

In response to the request above, please note that we do not have recorded information addressing this specific request and I have therefore applied section 17(1)(b) of FOISA to this query as this information is not held. However, by way of explanation, under section 15 of FOISA, GTC Scotland will not refer any less serious concerns to a local authority other than where the concern arose. The only exception would be where the teacher has moved before the local authority could investigate the referral, however, investigation in this case would depend on the first local authority informing the second local authority. For more information, please see our website.

An explanation as to why the two Recent Decisions on the website relate to incidences that happened a few years ago.

Please note that whilst we hold this information, we cannot provide it to you as to do so would otherwise prejudice substantially, or be likely to prejudice substantially, the effective conduct of public affairs under section 30(c) of FOISA.

There is a clear public interest in the transparency of public authorities, especially in the regulatory functions it discharges, and this is why we make our Fitness to Teach decisions available on the website. However, there is also a clear public interest in the proper functioning of those public authorities by carrying out their public functions without compromising the integrity of its processes through commenting on individual circumstances. Participants to the Fitness to Teach process expect us to provide only that information which relates to the decision-making process and to comment on individual cases beyond the published decision would risk their involvement in the process and ultimately compromise the process by which the fitness of teachers is determined.

However, as part of our duty to provide advice and assistance, I can explain that there are various factors which can contribute to the time taken for a case to reach a Fitness to Teach Hearing, if appropriate, from the point of first referral such as delays in the criminal justice process, receiving the relevant evidence timeously and the age of the witnesses. For more information, please see our Fitness to Teach insight report discussing these challenges.

You may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.ukif you are dissatisfied with this response, to request GTCS conduct a review of it. You should describe the original request and explain your grounds of review. You have 40 working days from receipt of this response 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.