Questions concerning LGBTI inclusive education: FOI release

Information requested

1. An update on the parental withdrawal advice within the relationships, sexual health and parenthood education teaching guidance; and

2. Confirmation of who has been involved from which faith organisations in the delivery of the LGBT inclusive education recommendations. When and where they meet and how else did they contribute.

Response

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 exemptions under section 25(1) (information otherwise accessible) and 38(1)(b) (personal data relating to a third party) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in Annex A.

I have included some information below in response to your specific questions.

An update on the parental withdrawal advice within the relationships, sexual health and parenthood education teaching guidance.

The Scottish Government is committed to reviewing and updating the 2014 Conduct of relationships, sexual health and parenthood education in schools guidance. Updating the guidance is a key recommendation of the LGBTI Inclusive Education Working Group’s 2018 report to Scottish Ministers. The review and update is currently underway. The updated guidance will be subject to a full public consultation later this year. The draft guidance will then undergo a process of parliamentary scrutiny before it is published. The existing 2014 guidance, which outlines the parental withdrawal advice referred to in your email, will remain in place until the updated guidance is published. It therefore remains the joint responsibility of parents and the school involved to agree on the positive alternative educational provision.

Confirmation of who has been involved from which faith organisations in the delivery of the LGBT inclusive education recommendations. When and where they meet and how else did they contribute.

The notes of the meetings of the LGBT Inclusive Education Implementation Group are published on the Scottish Government’s website and indicate which meetings were attended by the Scottish Catholic Education Service.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/lgbt-inclusive-education-implementation-group-minutes-2019/

As outlined above, a review and update of the 2014 relationships, sexual health and parenthood guidance is currently underway. As part of this process, we are engaging with a number of faith representative organisations. This engagement involved one meeting at the Scottish Government’s Victoria Quay office in Edinburgh on 5 September 2019 and we continue to engage with these organisations via email as the draft guidance develops. The faith organisations involved with this process are:

• Church of Scotland

• Interfaith Scotland

• Muslim Council of Scotland

• Scottish Catholic Education Service

• Scottish Council of Jewish Communities

• Humanist Society Scotland

• Sikh Sanjog

• Scottish Churches Parliamentary Offices

38(1)(b) (personal data relating to a third party) applies to the names of the individuals we have engaged with from these organisations.

Annex A
Exemptions Applied

25(1) (information otherwise accessible)
Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the websites included within the information provided, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

38(1)(b) (personal data relating to a third party)
An exemption under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA (personal information) applies to a small amount of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party, i.e. names and contact details of individuals, 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.

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.