24-25/30

I refer to your request for information (FOI 24-25/30) dated 24 July 2024 for information held “in relation to the GTCS’s recent decision to commission the Professional Standards Authority to conduct an independent review of its fitness to teach process” as it relates to the “commissioning of this review” to include “meeting minutes / motes [sic], emails, scoping / terms of reference documents and approval process” which we have handled under the Freedom of Information(Scotland) Act (FOISA).

By way of explanation, the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTC Scotland) recently asked the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) to review the effectiveness of its Fitness to Teach process against its Standards of Good Regulation, adapted to GTC Scotland’s working context. This will include reviewing the process, consideration of the legislation supporting it and soliciting views from stakeholders on the process including the general public.

With regards to your request, we have identified records regarding the “commissioning” and “terms of reference documents” and provide some of them as an enclosure accompanying this response. The identified records include the original email sent by GTC Scotland to the PSA commissioning the work on 24 October 2023 which establishes the purpose and scope of the review. A subsequent email to the PSA on 15 November 2023 after an initial meeting (which had no minutes taken) had taken place between GTC Scotland and the PSA includes the documents which accompanied the email being a Fitness to Teach Insight Report and a transcript of the closing submissions that were read out at the inquiry hearing and are publicly available on the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry website.

We have applied section 25(1) under FOISA to the submissions made to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry and the transcript containing those submissions, which for ease of reference is from page 55 onwards, as they are otherwise accessible on the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry website. Additionally, we have also applied section 25(1) to the Fitness to Teach Insight Report as this is reasonably accessible through our website.

We have also included a copy of the service agreement between the PSA and GTC Scotland signed on 7 May 2024, which includes the originally agreed Statement of Work detailing the remit and timetable of the work to be carried out. Additionally, we have included the revised version of the Statement of Work (dated 28 June 2024) which was adjusted based on the work carried out including the emails detailing those variations.

You will note that various portions of the records have been redacted as certain exemptions under FOISA apply to the records. Where the redaction is in red, this has been done to protect the personal information of individuals as disclosing this information would identify individuals. The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) does not require us to provide this sort of information as it is exempt under section 38(1)(b).

Where the redaction is in black, this has been done under section 33(1)(b) as disclosing the amount would, or be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of a third party being the PSA. Specifically, by releasing the amount paid by GTC Scotland to the PSA we would be damaging their commercial interests as the amount they charge for their services is commercially sensitive information which is only disclosed to regulators which approach them for the use of their services.

There is a clear public interest in the transparency and accountability of public authorities, particularly in relation to finances. This is why GTC Scotland publishes its annual report and financial statements for public review through its website and shows how we spend the teacher registration fees that fund our work. However, there is also considerable public interest in GTC Scotland entering contracts with stakeholders who operate in a commercially sensitive environment and protect the commercial information of those third parties to ensure those relationships are not compromised and GTC Scotland’s reputation is not undermined. In this case, we consider that the public interest in withholding the request information outweighs the public interest in releasing it.

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