National Standardised Assessment statistics: FOI release

Information requested

For each of the past eight academic years for National Standardised Assessments, broken down by year group (P1, P4, P7, S3) where applicable:

1. Volumes and outcomes

• Total number of NSA assessments completed
• Total number of deletion requests submitted
• Total number of deletion requests approved, and the total rejected

2. Request source

• Number of deletion requests submitted directly by children or young people
• Number of deletion requests submitted directly by parents or carers
• Number submitted by schools
• Number submitted by local authorities
• Number submitted by any other category of requestor
• For any requests from children or parents: how were these handled? Were they automatically rejected, referred back to the school, or considered on their own merits?

3. Approval categories

• For approved requests: number approved under each of the three standard criteria (wrong assessment started/completed, wrong learner account used, system failure preventing completion)
• Number approved for any other reason outside these three criteria
• For any approved requests outside the three criteria: exact recorded reason(s) for approval (with only necessary redactions) and the year group of the learner concerned

4. Refusals

• For rejected requests: number that were outside the three criteria
• Exact recorded reason(s) for refusal
• Whether the refusal decision referenced the UNCRC, best interests of the child, Article 3, or General Comment No. 14
• Whether any rejected requests were subject to internal review or appeal, the number of such reviews, outcomes of those reviews, and copies of any internal appeal/review procedure

5. Process and criteria

• Copies of any documented framework, decision-making matrix, criteria, or guidance used by the Scottish Government or Service Desk to assess deletion requests that fall outside the three standard criteria, including internal policies, standard operating procedures, process maps, or decision templates
• Copies of any training or briefing materials provided to staff handling deletion requests, especially any sections referring to complex cases, individual circumstances, UNCRC, best interests of the child, equality and fairness

6. Monitoring and equity

• Any breakdown of deletion requests and approval rates by local authority
• Any analysis, reports, or monitoring data produced in the past 5 years on equity and fairness of deletion decisions and consistency across local authorities or schools
• Any equality impact assessments relating to the deletion request policy or process

7. Resits after deletion

• For approved requests: number of cases where the learner subsequently re-sat the assessment and the average time between deletion approval and re-administration of the assessment

8. Policy review and communications

• Minutes, notes, or other records from the past 5 years of any meetings, working groups, or internal communications where deletion policy was reviewed or discussed, expansion of criteria beyond the three standard grounds was considered, or involvement of learner or parent voices in the process was discussed
• Any internal or external communications that refer to “individual circumstances”, “complex requests”, or “case-by-case basis” in the context of deletion requests

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. While we aim to provide information wherever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have asked for because the Scottish Government does not hold or create datasets containing the information that you have requested. Data on NSA assessment deletion requests are held by the assessment supplier and not by the Scottish Government.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested in questions 1b, 1c, 2, 3, 4, 6, and question 7.

An exemption under section s.38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This applies to personal information of non-senior civil servants. 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.

In response to question 1a, I have attached a table setting out SNSA assessment completion data for years 2017-2025 and MCNG assessment completion data for years 2022 2025. This data is broken down by stage.

In response to question 5, I have attached one document - ‘Service management document’- that shows the criteria and guidance used by the Scottish Government or Service Desk to assess deletion requests that fall outside the three standard criteria. These documents are also used as training and briefing materials provided to staff handling deletion requests.

In response to question 8, I have attached one document of emails that show internal and external communications that refer to “individual circumstances”, “complex requests”, or “case-by-case basis” in the context of deletion requests. I have attached two documents that show communications where assessment deletion policy was reviewed, -’NSA continuous improvement 23-24, NSA Annual report 23-24'. There were no formal meetings, or working groups, where deletion policy was reviewed or discussed, expansion of criteria beyond the three standard grounds was considered, or involvement of learner or parent voices in the process was discussed, therefore there are no minutes or meeting notes that fall within the scope of your request.

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.

FOI 202500478694 - Information released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

1.4 MB