Children’s Rights Impact Assessment and Equality Impact Assessment: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
You asked for the following information relating to the Fostering a positive inclusive and safe school environment guidance published on 17 June 2025
1. Child Rights Impact Assessment and the Equality Impact Assessment for this policy.
2. All correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and teaching trade unions in relation to the development of this guidance.
3. Correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and the Association of Directors of Education in relation to the development of the guidance.
4. All correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and the Children’s Commissioner in relation to the development of this guidance.
5. Details of all organisations which lobbied the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to introduce the guidance.
6. Dates of Cabinet Meetings where the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills presented the guidance for consideration and approval.
For the avoidance of doubt correspondence should include letters, emails, discussion papers and WhatsApp messages.
Response
1. Child Rights Impact Assessment and the Equality Impact Assessment for this policy.
The Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) and Child Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA), are currently being finalised and are due to be published within 12 weeks of the date of your request. An exemption under section 27(1) of FOISA therefore applies. We consider that it is reasonable to withhold the information until that date, rather than release this routinely published information before the planned publication date.
This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest of this information in relation to transparency around the development of guidance, and this will be met by our planned publication. In the meantime, there is a greater public interest in taking the time necessary to publish these materials in their complete and finalised form, in line with our standard publishing procedures. Also, we see no public interest in disrupting our programme of work to release the information ahead of the intended publication date.
2. All correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and teaching trade unions in relation to the development of this guidance.
The information that you have requested has been provided as part of the attached Annex. Please see enclosure 1.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested. 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, namely, name 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.
3. Correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and the Association of Directors of Education in relation to the development of the guidance.
Please see the information attached to the Annex of this document, enclosures 2 and 3 refer.
4. All correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and the Children’s Commissioner in relation to the development of this guidance.
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because no correspondence between the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and the Children’s Commissioner in relation to the development of this guidance has been identified.
As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
5. Details of all organisations which lobbied the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to introduce the guidance.
The ‘Fostering a positive inclusive and safe school environment’ guidance delivers the commitment within the Relationships and Behaviour in Schools Action Plan 2024-27 to produce new guidance on consequences. This commitment was agreed by the Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools following the publication of the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research 2023. Details of the membership and minutes of SAGRABIS can be found here: Scottish Advisory Group on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools (SAGRABIS) - gov.scot. 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 website listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
6. Dates of Cabinet Meetings where the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills presented the guidance for consideration and approval.
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because in line with the Scottish Government’s standard processes, the Scottish Cabinet was not required to approve the guidance for publication.
As such, I hereby provide you with formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.
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.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG