24-25/85

I refer to your request for information dated 18 January 2025 (FOI 24-25/85) in which you asked for records related to two parliamentary questions which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA).

Within your request, you referenced two parliamentary questions on 21 December 2021 by Oliver Mundell MSP to which Shirley-Anne Somerville answered on 7 January 2022.

In S6W-05201 the question stated:

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reports that people who have referred concerns to the General Teaching Council for Scotland about professional standards have received a response indicating that, unless the referral has been subject to an employer investigation, it is considered "frivolous"

In S6W-05204 the question stated:

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reports that there have been around200 cases referred to the General Teaching Council for Scotland in the last three years that were concluded as "closed after initial consideration", whether it is confident that there are no safeguarding or child protection matters included as part of those cases.

You have now asked for “a copy of all the information held by the GTCS with regard to the regular dialogue it has had with the Scottish Government about these known issues since this answer was provided to Oliver Mundell MSP”.

We requested clarification on 12 February to which you responded the same day. Thank you for providing us with your clarification.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request. This is primarily as a result of resource challenges within the team, including periods of leave, which has resulted in a delay in providing a response. We apologise for this. 

We would highlight that we have interpreted the scope of your request as being a request for the correspondence with the Scottish Government about these issues since 7 January 2022 to the date of your request.

Please find the attached records labelled “FOI 24-25/85_Records” accompanying this response.

Please note that we have withheld documents labelled “Case Studies Part A”, “Case Studies Part B” and “Case Studies” in their entirety from this response under s30(b)(ii), 30(c) and s38(1)(b).

You will note we have withheld a portion of the above records as they are exempt under section 30(b)(ii) and section 30(c) of FOISA. These have been redacted in black.

Where the records have been withheld under section 30(b)(ii) this has been done as disclosure of them is likely to inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purpose of deliberation.

There is clear public interest in the transparent operation of public authorities. As an organisation, we ensure that we make publicly available information relating to our Fitness to Teach process, including our Annual Report and our Insight Report to ensure accountability and transparency of our process. However, we consider that it is essential that public authorities may maintain a private space in order to exchange views for the purpose of deliberation, particularly in relation to live and/or developing matters for consideration.

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 if colleagues and partners knew they could be disclosed under FOISA. We therefore consider the interest in withholding this information to ensure we maintain a private space for consideration and deliberation 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 certain procedures be considered internally within a private space. Public authorities must ensure that they are enabled to  develop internal rationale and communicate with third party partners in a private space so that we can properly develop, discuss and revise these functions. We consider that it is essential that public authorities may maintain a private and confidential space in order to discuss and consider important areas of policy with key partners.To remove any such privacy and confidentiality from a public authority in order to properly develop and consider confidential matters would significantly inhibit the effective conduct of public affairs. We therefore consider the interest in withholding this information to ensure we maintain a private space for consideration and deliberation outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

Additionally,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. 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. These records have been redacted in red.

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 are view 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 do so.