24-25/29

I refer to your request for information (FOI 24-25/29) dated 23 July 2024 in which you asked for “all communications between GTCS and the Scottish government in relation to the decision to ask the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care to conduct a review of the Fitness to Teach process” which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).

By way of explanation please note that as the regulatory body for teachers, GTC Scotland is independent from the Scottish government and receives no funding from it for its core roles of registration and regulation. This work is instead funded by the fees which teachers and college lecturers pay. The Public Services Reform (General Teaching Council for Scotland) Order 2011 empowers GTC Scotland with the right to take any action which appears to it to be appropriate for the purpose of performing its functions. To this end, GTC Scotland took the decision itself to commission the review and selected the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) as the body to do so.

In response to your request specifically, I can advise you that our Regulation, Executive and Policy teams have confirmed that there has been no communication between GTC Scotland and the Scottish government in relation to the decision to ask the PSA to conduct a review of the Fitness to Teach process. I have therefore applied section 17(1)(b) of FOISA as this information is not held.

If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk to request GTC Scotland 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.