FOI/202600504601 · FOI · not held
Education Scotland employee data: FOI release
Information requested
You asked for information on formal complaints logged against staff members at Education Scotland for the last four financial years (2021/22 to 2024/25 to date). Specifically:
A. A breakdown for the entire organisation as well as (A) The Inspectorate (HMIE) and (B) Education Scotland (Non-Inspectorate functions).
B. The total number of formal complaints made against staff members.
C. A breakdown of how many were "Internal" (logged by other staff) and how many were "External" (logged by members of the public or external stakeholders).
D. A breakdown of these complaints by category (e.g., Conduct, Bullying/Harassment, Professionalism, Procedural Error, etc.).
E. A breakdown of how many complaints were made against director level staff or above; Cband level staff or above and against all other staff.
F. Number of complaints that were upheld; partially upheld; not upheld or currently ongoing/pending.
Response
A & B Please see the table below showing the total number of formal complaints recorded for each financial year.
Total 2021-2022 1 2022-2023 2 2023-2024 6 2024-2025 6 2025-to date 4 19
A & C In regard to your request for the data to be broken down by (A) The Inspectorate (HMIE) and (B) Education Scotland (Non-Inspectorate functions) and by Internal (logged by other staff) and External (logged by members of the public or external stakeholders), we are unable to provide this level of detail. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies. The reason for this is explained below. An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) applies where the disclosure of information would involve releasing personal data relating to identifiable individuals. As the complaint figures involved are below five, providing further breakdowns would risk identifying individual staff members. Disclosing this information would therefore contravene the data protection principles set out in Article 5(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the public interest test, so we are not required to consider whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
D & E. Your request for a breakdown by staff grade and for categories (e.g., Conduct, Bullying/Harassment, Professionalism, Procedural Error, etc.), this information is not held. In accordance with section 17(1) of FOISA (information is not held), we are unable to supply the information requested as it is not recorded by Education Scotland.
F. Please see the table below showing the complaint outcome of formal complaints for each financial year.
Resolved Upheld Partially Upheld Not Upheld 2021-2022 0 0 0 1 2022-2023 0 0 2 0 2023-2024 5 0 1 0 2024-2025 1 0 4 1 2025-2026 1 0 2 1
As we still have complaint cases ongoing, we are not in a position to release the number of these at present. Once these cases are concluded, the information may be reconsidered for disclosure.
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.
Contact Please quote the FOI reference Central Correspondence Unit Email: contactus@gov.scot Phone: 0300 244 4000 The Scottish Government St Andrew's House Regent Road Edinburgh EH1 3DG
Detected exemption language
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies. An exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) applies where the disclosure of information would involve releasing personal data relating to identifiable individuals. Disclosing this information would therefore contravene the data protection principles set out in Article 5(1) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exemption is not subject to the public interest test, so we are not required to consider whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. In accordance with section 17(1) of FOISA (information is not held), we are unable to supply the information requested as it is not recorded by Education Scotland.
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