LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group recommendations in relation to curriculum: FOI review

Information requested

Further to my letter of 22 May 2019, I have now completed my review of our response to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) regarding LGBT inclusive education policy in Scotland.

I have concluded that the original response should be confirmed with slight modifications.

“1) I explicitly asked if queer theory and queer terminology would be used in the Government’s proposals for LGBT inclusive education. This was not addressed in your answer.

2) I asked which specific faith groups would be invited to provide input into the LGBT inclusive education working group. This was not provided. You much have some idea who will be approached (e.g Muslim Council of Scotland, Jewish groups etc).

3) In my original FOI request I quoted an article… is there a reason why TIE and the article I quoted was omitted from the online response from the Scottish Government

4) In light of the above, is there a reason why the online FOI differs greatly in the wording I used in my initial submission?"

Response

“1) I explicitly asked if queer theory and queer terminology would be used in the Government’s proposals for LGBT inclusive education. This was not addressed in your answer.”

The previous response provided (dated 12 February 2019) highlights the fact that the curriculum in Scotland is not statutory. Therefore, individual local authorities and schools have flexibility in the delivery

“2) I asked which specific faith groups would be invited to provide input into the LGBT inclusive education working group. This was not provided. You much have some idea who will be approached (e.g Muslim Council of Scotland, Jewish groups etc).”

The previous response provided (dated 12 February 2019) highlighted the faith group represented on the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group. A full breakdown of the membership and terms of reference for the working group is available publically via https://www.gov.scot/groups/lgbti-inclusive-education/

It will be for the Group to determine where, if any, additional representation is required (including additional faith groups) as the work progresses.

“3) In my original FOI request I quoted an article… is there a reason why TIE and the article I quoted was omitted from the online response from the Scottish Government”

"4) In light of the above, is there a reason why the online FOI differs greatly in the wording I used in my initial submission?”

There is no requirement for Scottish Government to publish the full content of a request received under the Freedom of Information Act 2002, in addition the article and TIE campaign which you referred to did not comprise a valid request. We therefore did not include this in the online version. There is no other reason as to why these parts of your letter were not published (we also did not include them in our response to your request) nor any reason as to why the online FOI differs. However, should you wish us to amend the online version so that it includes the omitted parts, please let me know and I shall ask for the that version to be amended.

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.