24-25/62

I refer to your request for information dated 1 November 2024 (FOI 24-25/62) in which you requested a copy of minutes from the Professional Regulatory Assurance Committee involving a paper submitted to Council on 14 December 2016 which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act.

I have identified the records and have provided them as an attachment labelled “FOI24-25/62_Records” accompanying this response. You also asked for the “date the consideration took place” which was 8 November2016.

You will note that I have redacted these records in line with our obligations under data protection legislation (marked with 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).

In addition, redactions have been applied (marked in black) where this information is withheld under section 30(c) of FOISA. The information redacted relates to ongoing work at GTC Scotland and disclosure would be likely to substantially prejudice the progress of that work. In addition, GTC Scotland must ensure that it has a private, confidential space – through its private Committee meetings – to discuss such matters and development of processes or changes to practice. While it is in the public interest to ensure transparency in the work that we do, we consider that the public interest test is outweighed by the need for GTC Scotland, as a public authority, to have the ability to work on confidential matters without these being disclosed into the public domain.

While our committee papers and minutes are all private documents, we have assessed that we are able to release this specific information. In particular, the information discusses the proposed revisals to the Fitness to Teach and Appeals Rules 2012 which later went to public consultation on similar terms in conjunction with the passage of time since the production of the information. In addition, given the additional content of the document, we consider that other than minor redactions it is not subject to exemptions within FOISA, specifically those contained within section 30 given the nature of the information contained. Where we have made minor redactions, these are discussed above.

If you are dissatisfied, you may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk to request GTC Scotland conduct a review of this response. 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.

This request was deemed to be vexatious under section s21(8)(a) of FOISA and no information was provided.

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