Original request
Summary of request
Full request
I would like a copy of information held in relation to the period October 2023 through to May 2024, i.e., from the point right after the GTCS first reached out to the Professional Standards Authority through to the press release confirming the GTCS's decision to commission the PSA to carry out an independent review of its Fitness to Teach process. I don't need all information, just information related to logic / reasons for the GTCS deeming this was necessary. I am assuming that the rationale and business case would have been shared / discussed between GTCS employees and possibly submitted to the executive and or Fitness to Teach Committee for approval. Its this information I am looking to obtain, i.e., emails, documents and potentially meeting minutes etc.
Response
I refer to your request for information dated 5 September 2024 (FOI 24-25/34) in which you asked for information between October 2023 and May 2024 “related to logic /reasons” for the commissioning of a report by the Professional Standards Authority which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).
With regards to your request, we have conducted a search for “emails, documents and potentially meeting minutes” between October 2023 and May 2024 for the “logic”, “reasons” and “rationale” of a review by the Professional Standards Authority. The relevant records include the following:
- Various email exchanges with the Professional Standards Authority regarding the review;
- A paper presented to the Professional Regulatory Assurance Committee on 5 December 2023;
- A paper presented to the Professional Regulatory Assurance Committee on 7 May2024;
- A draft internal staff One Note document dated 23 January2024 referring to the scope and reasons for the review.
By way of advice and assistance, you might be interested in a response we have previously provided related to the commissioning of the report by the PSA which is already available on our Disclosure Log and which may answer a portion of your request.
We have withheld the above records as they are exempt under section 30(b)(i)(ii) and section 30(c) of FOISA.
Where the records have been withheld under section 30(b)(i) and (ii) this has been done as disclosure of them is likely to inhibit substantially the free and frank provision of advice as well as the free and frank exchange of views for the purpose of deliberation.
There is clear public interest in the transparent operation of public authorities, and this is why we make our Fitness to Teach Rules, Threshold Policy and other information about our fitness to teach process publicly available.
Additionally, we have published information regarding the PSA review on our website to ensure transparency and awareness of the work that we are doing to review our Fitness to Teach Rules and process and the PSA report will be made publicly available. However, there is also a significant public interest in GTC Scotland being able to deliberate on the options available and the ways in which any such review will be carried out in order to improve the processes which support our fitness to teach function without the concern that such deliberations and exploration of options will be made public.
GTC Scotland needs to be able to have free and frank exchanges and reflect consideration of matters in a private space so that these matters can be articulated, developed, discussed and tested. We consider this is especially relevant given that our Committee meetings are held in private. Disclosure of these records would belikely to substantially inhibit the exchange of views and provision of advice if employees and partners knew they could be disclosed under FOISA. We consider the public interest in withholding this information outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
We also consider that releasing the records would otherwise prejudice substantially, or be likely to prejudice substantially, the effective conduct of public affairs under section 30(c) of FOISA.
As stated, while there is a clear public interest in the transparent operation of public authorities it is necessary for their proper functioning that review procedures be considered internally without public scrutiny. We need to develop internal rationale and communicate with parties in a private space so that we can properly develop, discuss and revise these functions.
If these records were to be placed in the public domain by disclosing it to you under FOISA, we consider that there would be a reluctance to make substantive contributions and sharing of ideas on prevailing topics and so more restrained, and less helpful contributions will be made over time. This would have a significantly adverse impact upon our Regulatory Investigations team and other GTC Scotland employees involved in this work who need to be able to create draft documents, discuss matters and undertake their functions in relation to the Fitness to Teach process.
Additionally, the records contain personal data of third parties as data that identifies and relates to them, which we consider would be unfair to disclose to you and put into the public domain, as it would be beyond their reasonable expectations and would not be reasonable or possible for us to notify them or seek their consent to disclosure. I have therefore applied the exemption in section 38(1)(b) of FOISA, to withhold this information from disclosure to you, as it would contravene the first data protection principle in Article 5(1)(a) of the UKGDPR.
You may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk if you are dissatisfied with this response, 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.
Response file
Internal Review request
Summary of request
