24-25/37

I refer to your request for information dated 10 September 2024 (FOI 24-25/37) in which you asked for information related to the “unacceptable actions Policy” and “complaints handling arrangements” which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).

With regards to your request, we have conducted a search for “drafts of new policies, emails between staff discussing the need to review these policies, discussion on Teams” regarding the Unacceptable Actions Policy and the Complaints Handling Procedure. The relevant records include the following:

• Various email exchanges between colleagues regarding the development of both procedures;
• Draft flow diagrams of a revised process;
• Suggested user content explaining the procedures;
• Development plans regarding the implementation

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 Unacceptable Actions Policy and Service Complaints Procedure publicly available and ask for Feedback from all users of our services. However, there is also a significant public interest in GTC Scotland being able to consider its various procedures in private to improve them without the concern that such deliberations and exploration of options will be made public during the process.

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. Disclosure of these records would be likely to substantially inhibit the exchange of views and provision of advice if employees 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 draft procedures be considered internally without public scrutiny. We need to develop a draft version of documents in a private space so that we can properly develop, discuss and revise these documents and their evolving procedures.

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 the sharing of ideas on prevailing topics creating more restrained and less helpful contributions over time. This would have a significantly adverse impact upon our GTC Scotland employees involved in this type of work who need to be able to amend draft documents, discuss matters and carry out their roles in relation to the development and improvement of our service complaints procedure. We consider the public interest in withholding this information outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Additionally, the records contain personal data of third parties as data that identifies them and relates to them, which we consider would be unfair to disclose to you and put into the public domain. It would be beyond a reasonable expectation 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 UK GDPR.

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.