Correspondence from additional support needs (ASN) teachers to First Minister on excessive workload and staff cuts: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/03398
Date received: 14 November 2018
Date responded: 14 December 2018

 

 

You asked for any correspondence (letters, emails or otherwise) in 2018 from additional support needs (ASN) teachers to Nicola Sturgeon on any of the following topics: excessive workload, staff cuts, Scottish Government funding, poor workforce planning, or job satisfaction.

Response

 

I enclose five pieces of correspondence from ASN teachers to the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon which contain issues relating to one or more of the following topics - excessive workload, staff cuts, Scottish Government funding, poor workforce planning, or job satisfaction.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption under section 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are explained below. 

Other information has also been redacted as it falls out of the scope of your request.   

Please note that the Scottish Government uses a particular system to manage all written correspondence and enquiries addressed to Scottish Government ministers. It is an operational system and the functions available on it are designed to meet the needs of ministers. The only correspondence that we would be able to access would be those on that system. To have manually searched for all letters, emails or otherwise not held on this system would have led to this request exceeding the cost limit.

 

An exemption applies.

An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to the various emails and letters which fall under the scope of your FOI request because certain items of information are personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in 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 if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.

In practice, this means that personal information, including names of teachers or headteachers, and their addresses or email addresses, have been redacted from the various emails or letters.

Other information has also been redacted as it falls out of the scope of your request.