Adherence to Education Scotland grievance and dismissal policy timescales: FOI release

Information requested

Formal request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. I request the following data:

1. The average time taken to complete internal appeals related to employment matters (including but not limited to dismissal, disciplinary actions, and grievance outcomes) within Education Scotland in the past 3 years.
2. The Scottish Government's stated policy or target timescales for completing such internal appeals.
3. The number of internal employment-related appeals lodged within Education Scotland in the past 3 years.
4. The number of these appeals where the outcome was provided to the appellant outside of the stated policy or target timescales.
5. The number of these appeals that were upheld.
6. The number of these appeals that were partially upheld.
7. The number of these appeals that were not upheld.
8. The number of employees dismissed who were previously employed by Education Scotland, as a body of Scottish Government, in the last 3 years.
9. The number of fixed term contract employees dismissed who were previously employed by Education Scotland, as a body of Scottish Government, in the last 3 years.

Where possible, the above requested data should be related to all internal appeals processes and should be clearly identify where the data refers to informal employment related grievance processes and formal employment related grievances and dismissals.

Please provide this data in an anonymised digital format that does not identify any individual employees.

Response

1. The average time taken to complete internal appeals related to employment matters (including but not limited to dismissal, disciplinary actions, and grievance outcomes) within Education Scotland in the past 3 years.

25 days.

2. The Scottish Government's stated policy or target timescales for completing such internal appeals.

An appeal hearing will normally be arranged within 10 working days of receiving the appeal. Their appeal decision should be confirmed in writing within 10 working days of the hearing, where possible and appellants should be kept informed should there be any delay to this.

3. The number of internal employment-related appeals lodged within Education Scotland in the past 3 years.

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(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of less than five this has been supressed in order to ensure that individual staff cannot be identified.

4. The number of these appeals where the outcome was provided to the appellant outside of the stated policy or target timescales.

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(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of less than five this has been supressed in order to ensure that individual staff cannot be identified.

5. The number of these appeals that were upheld.

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(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of less than five this has been supressed in order to ensure that individual staff cannot be identified.

6. The number of these appeals that were partially upheld.

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(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of less than five this has been supressed in order to ensure that individual staff cannot be identified.

7. The number of these appeals that were not upheld.

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(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of less than five this has been supressed in order to ensure that individual staff cannot be identified.

8. The number of employees dismissed who were previously employed by Education Scotland, as a body of Scottish Government, in the last 3 years.

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(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of less than five this has been supressed in order to ensure that individual staff cannot be identified.

9. The number of fixed term contract employees dismissed who were previously employed by Education Scotland, as a body of Scottish Government, in the last 3 years.

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(s) under section(s) s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information. Where the data returns a value of less than five this has been supressed in order to ensure that individual staff cannot be identified.

About FOI

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