FOI/202500479087 · FOI · partially withheld
Correspondence between the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Government's Learning Directorate: FOI release
Information requested
A copy of all correspondence between the General Teaching Council for Scotland and the Scottish Government's Learning Directorate over the past 3 months were both parties are the sender and the main recipient, i.e., not on copy.
Response
I enclose a copy of most of the information you requested in the below annex. As your request was received on 6 August, the three months requested covers information from 6 May to 6 August inclusive.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide any personal information because an exemption(s) under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. These are names and contact details of people below Senior Civil Service level and job titles of external people (unless of a similar disclosable seniority), in cases, where they would be readily identifiable, and disclosing it would contravene data protection principles. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
Again, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, we are unable to provide some information because the following exemptions apply and the public interest in applying the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information:
Section 36(1) - Legal Protection Privilege
Section 30 (1) (b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially (i) the free and frank provision of advice; or (ii) the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.
Section 28 Information intended for future publication (1) Information is exempt information if - (a) it is held with a view to its being published by - (i) a Scottish public authority; or (ii) any other person, at a date not later than twelve weeks after that on which the request for the information is made; (b) when that request is made the information is already being held with that view; and (c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information be withheld from disclosure until such date as is mentioned in paragraph (a).
Section 29 (1) (a) formulation or development of government policy.
More details of where the exemptions have been applied and the public interest considerations are outlined in the attached table (Annex).
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Detected exemption language
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide any personal information because an exemption(s) under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. This exemption is not subject to the ‘public interest test’, so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. Again, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, we are unable to provide some information because the following exemptions apply and the public interest in applying the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information: Section 36(1) - Legal Protection Privilege Section 30 (1) (b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially (i) the free and frank provision of advice; or (ii) the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation. Section 28 Information intended for future publication (1) Information is exempt information if - (a) it is held with a view to its being published by - (i) a Scottish public authority; or (ii) any other person, at a date not later than twelve weeks after that on which the request for the information is made; (b) when that request is made the information is already being held with that view; and (c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information be withheld from disclosure until such date as is mentioned in paragraph (a). Section 29 (1) (a) formulation or development of government policy.