Correspondence with Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) regarding changes to appeals process: FOI Review

Information requested

1. Please provide the minutes of any meeting of Scottish Government Ministers and employees of the SQA, from 2009 to the present, during which the meeting references or in any way discusses changes to the appeals process of the SQA.

2. To provide information relating to any consultation process the Scottish Government was part of ahead of the changes to the appeals process which came into effect in2014 and provide the outcome and results of any such consultation

Response

Further to my letter of 26 October 2021, I have now completed my review of our failure to respond to your request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) for the following:

1. Please provide the minutes of any meeting of Scottish Government Ministers and employees of the SQA, from 2009 to the present, during which the meeting references or in any way discusses changes to the appeals process of the SQA.

2. To provide information relating to any consultation process the Scottish Government was part of ahead of the changes to the appeals process which came into effect in2014 and provide the outcome and results of any such consultation.

In accordance with section 21(4) of FOISA, I have also reached a decision on your request.

I apologise sincerely for the delay in responding to your request – I appreciate this extended wait must have been frustrating. As advised in our previous correspondence with you, it took longer than expected to deal with the request due to the complexity and historical time period requested for some of the information to be considered for release. There has also been a much higher than usual workload in the area, including a high number of FOI requests as well as non-FOI work relating to qualifications. These factors have unfortunately meant that some work, including your FOI, has been delayed.

I can now provide our response to your original request.

Part One
I attach a copy of some of the information you requested.

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.

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

Part Two
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested. You may be aware that the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is an executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB). As an NDPB SQA operates at arm’s length to Ministers as set out under the Education (Scotland) Act 1996. It follows that SQA is responsible for making its own operational decisions, including decisions about the replacement of the previous appeals system with the Post Results Service. As this matter fell within SQA’s operational remit, the Scottish Government was not party to consultation and engagement activities undertaken by SQA.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

While the Scottish Government does not hold information about the consultation and engagement process, we understand from information produced at the time that, following consultation with schools, colleges and other stakeholders, SQA announced the decision to replace Appeals in January 2012. SQA issued several publications on Results Services, some targeted specifically at parents and candidates, and wrote to all candidates in February 2014 to detail the change. Information about Results Services also appeared in SQA’s publication 'Your Exams' which went to every candidate taking National Courses.

The Appeals system was duly replaced by the Post Results Service, through which a centre could request a Clerical Check, a Marking Review or a Priority Marking Review. In addition to the Post Results Service, the pre-results Exceptional Circumstance service addresses the needs of candidates who may be unable to attend an examination due to an exceptional circumstance, such as illness or bereavement, or whose performance on the day was affected by such a circumstance.

If you continue to be concerned about the rationale and approach to this change I would encourage you to contact SQA directly, by email to: customer@sqa.org.uk. Further details on how to access information from SQA or make a Freedom of Information request to them can be found on the SQA website at https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/57734.3472.html

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scottish Government and SQA have maintained ongoing communication to ensure that young people’s achievements could be recognised, despite these difficult circumstances. Scottish Minsters have been sighted on and provided input on developments where appropriate.

While not within the specific scope of your request, you may be interested to look at the responses to other recent Freedom of Information requests covering the subject of appeals:

• Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) revision of appeal process: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202000108636/
• Communications regarding Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) appeal rates 2021: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202100208815/

You can also access SQA’s published FOI responses on the SQA website:

• Freedom of information (FOI) disclosure log - SQA https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/93437.html

You may also be interested to look at the consultation which the Scottish Government did undertake in 2008 on the Next Generation of National Qualifications. Some of the information in the responses to this consultation do reference the appeals process.

• A Consultation on the Next Generation of National Qualifications in Scotland (webarchive.org.uk) https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20180516072530/http:/www.gov.scot/Publications/2008/06/09084232/0
• Research on the Consultation on the Next Generation of National Qualifications in Scotland (ioe.ac.uk) https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/406/1/0078333.pdf

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.

FOI - 202100247961 - Information Released - Annex

File type

3 page PDF

File size

381.6 kB