24-25/48

I refer to your request for information dated 7 October 2024 which we have handled under Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).

You requested the following:

“Please confirm when this page was posed on gtcs website https://www.gtcs.org.uk/knowledge-base/articles/apply-for-professional-recognition-as-an-individual and please provided all emails internally in gtcs about the text of this webpage.”

Due to the update of our website taking place in recent years, the earliest record held in relation to this webpage being available on our website is January 2022. By way of advice and assistance, however, we would highlight that an update to that page was made on 2 October 2024 to include an additional paragraph at the top of the page, relating to the pausing of Professional Recognition.

In terms of internal emails, I have attached a document containing the relevant records.

You will note some of the content has been redacted where FOISA exemptions have been applied as detailed further below.

 S30(b)(ii) – free and frank exchange of views for the purposeof deliberation

Elements of the disclosed documentation have been redacted and the exemption under section 30(b)(ii)of FOISA – that disclosure would, or would belikely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation – has been applied.

There is clear public interest in the transparent operation of public authorities to ensure accountability in the work that we do. However, we consider it to be essential to enable GTC Scotland to have a private space to note and share views for the purpose of later discussion and deliberation as part of our internal decision-making process. The information withheld under s30(b)(ii) include views and internal comments from members of staff in the development of work for later publication. The comments and views were made and shared with the expectation of privacy, in that their views and considerations would be confidential and used only for the purposes of supporting decision making processes.

‍Public interest test

We are required to consider the public interest test when applying s30(b)(ii). While we accept of course, as noted above, that there is a public interest in transparency, accountability and scrutiny of decisions and decision-making processes of public authorities we would argue that this must be balanced against the public interest in our ability to hold internal discussions, deliberations and the sharing of views and opinions in a private space. We consider this to be an essential element of ensuring that the organisation is enabled to make well-informed, fully considered decisions. Employees providing their views in this way will expect to do so in a private and confidential space. The public interest in ensuring that an organisation can continue to carry on a decision-making process in this way and enabling private thought and planning as well as thorough discussion and exchange of views is greater than that of disclosure of personal opinions and views of members of the organisation. Any such disclosure would almost certainly substantially inhibit any such future exchange of views within the decision making process.

For this reason, I consider that the public interest in withholding the relevant information under s38(1)(ii) outweighs the public interest in disclosing it and thereby putting it into the public domain.

S38(1)(b) – personal data

Finally, the records contain personal data of third parties , i.e. data that identifies them 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 to publish this information. I have therefore applied the exemption in section38(1)(b) of FOISA, to with hold 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 to 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 can refer to the Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on making an appeal.