24-25/40

I refer to your request for information dated 13 September 2024 (FOI 24-25/40) in which you asked for “all information held in relation” to a named individual’s “removal from the GTCS’s Teaching Register” which we have handled under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA). We have interpreted this request to be in relation to recent communication regarding the data subject’s registration and therefore have limited our response to information within the month of September 2024.

Sharing personal data of a named individual under FOISA may breach data protection principles set out in data protection legislation and may be exempt under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA. Having considered this exemption's requirements, we have not applied s38(1)(b)to this request.

However, having completed a search for recorded information relating to this individual and their “removal from the GTCS’s Teaching Register” I can confirm that we do not hold any such information and apply section 17(1)(b) of FOISA – information not held.

By way of advice and assistance, I can explain that due to a typographical error within a database connected to our Register there was a brief period in September 2024 during which the named individuals’ surname was misspelt on the Search the Register functionality available through our website. The data subject was not ‘removed’ from the Register during this period. We apologise for any confusion this may have caused.

You may contact informationgovernance@gtcs.org.uk if you are dissatisfied with this response, to request GTC Scotland conduct a review of it. You should describe the original request and explain your grounds of review. You have 40 working days from receipt of this response to submit a review request. When the review process has been completed, if you are still dissatisfied, you may use the Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance on making an appeal to make an appeal to the Commissioner.

I refer to your request for a review (FOI 24-25/08)of the response that you received on 8 October 2024 to your original information request to GTC Scotland dated 13 September (FOI 24-25/40).

You have expressed dissatisfaction with our response to your information request. To enable your review request to be considered afresh and by someone who has not responded to your original request, I have been appointed to undertake the internal review on behalf of GTC Scotland.

Review decision

After reviewing the response that you received, I believe that my colleague applied the correct exemptions appropriately and the further information that he offered by way of advice and assistance demonstrated an understanding of your request and genuine endeavour to provide a helpful response. I would therefore uphold the original decision.

However, having discussed matters with colleagues in our Digital Team, I would like to offer additional advice and assistance to further clarify our position. I do wonder if some of the original wording in the response provided caused confusion regarding what had occurred, specifically “… there was a brief period in September 2024 during which the named individual’s surname was misspelt on the Search the Register functionality available through our website”.

This could more accurately have said that '... there was a brief period in September 2024 during which the named individual’s surname was misspelt on the Register of Teachers database caused by an administrative error during an upload function'. The data for the ‘search the register’ function pulls directly from the Register of Teachers database and so the name did not show on Search the Register when the correct spelling was used for the search. This was only for a short period of time until the error in the surname spelling was corrected. To confirm, the individual was never removed.

If you are dissatisfied with this response to your review request, you have a right of appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within 6 months of this review response. The Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on making an appeal describes the process, including the application form. Further information is available on the website www.itspublicknowledge.info/appeal.

If you are dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner, following an appeal to the Commissioner, you have a right of appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law.