Equality and Access to Scottish Labour Markets: FOI Review

FOI reference: FOI/18/01308
Date received: 30 May 2018
Date responded: 14 June 2018

Information requested

You initially asked for information relating to equality within Modern Apprenticeships and access to Scottish Labour markets through further and higher education in electronic format: From AY 2017/18, to supply recorded information that shows an increase in the number of Modern Apprenticeships Frameworks that have been supported for apprentices aged over 24.

The Scottish Government responded by issuing a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested, and directed you to Skills Development Scotland (SDS), Scotland's national skills body which administers and reports on Scottish Apprenticeships on behalf of the Scottish Government.

You have have requested a review of this response, stating you did not accept that the Scottish Government do not hold the information requested. You also state that you believe Skills Development Scotland is the body that administers Modern Apprenticeships on behalf of the Scottish Government, are a body in receipt of government funding, and as such have a duty to report such issues back to the relevant cabinet minister for this portfolio. You also state that, in your view, the lines of accountability in essential reporting and financial responsibility are not diminished nor are abrogated in full to this body.

Response

I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA). I have concluded that the original decision by the Scottish Government should be confirmed.

This is because the Scottish Government reponse to FoI/18/01308 follows the Memorandum of Understanding between Scottish Government and Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) which supports effective handling of requests for information where the scope of the request includes communications between the bodies or information on topics of shared interest/joint-working.

Requests subject to FOISA cannot be transferred from one Scottish public authority to another. Where an FOI request is made to the Scottish Government for information which is not held by Scottish Government, but is information is held by an NDPB, the Scottish Government will issue a notice under section 17 of FOISA (i.e. notice that information is not held) and advise the requester to submit their request to the other authority as appropriate (providing relevant contact details). The response to FoI/18/01308 does that.

For your assistance, the relevant contact point to submit your request is: foi@sds.co.uk Skills Development Scotland: Monteith House, 11 George Square, Glasgow G2 1DY

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses