Communications with local government regarding the implementation of Named Persons in 2018: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/02991
Date received: 18 October 2018
Date responded: 15 November 2018

Information requested

You asked for minutes or correspondence (emails, typed or handwritten notes, letters, phone calls, documents or otherwise) between the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, Edinburgh City Council, Fife Council, North Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council regarding the implementation of Named Persons in 2018.

Response

As you have not specified the policy area or team in your request, we have interpreted your request as looking for information held by the Getting it Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) Policy team within the Scottish Government, who lead on GIRFEC policy in Scotland including the Named Person, Child’s Plan and Wellbeing Indicators.

To conduct a search of our records management we have utilised the following search terms:

Email Sender Contains: “glasgow.gcsx.gov.uk”; “edinburgh.gov.uk”; “fife.gov.uk”; “northlan.gov.uk” or “southlanarkshire.gov.uk”
Including:  “Named Person”  Date File Created After: 01/01/2018 00:00.

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) 30(b)(i) and 30(b)(ii) of FOISA applies to that information. The reasons why that exemption(s) applies are explained below.
However, in an aim to be as helpful as possible, a previously released FoI with “minutes/notes/summaries or the information contained therein of all meetings of Named Person Service Providers from 20th June 2017 to 17 October 2018” can be accessed at /publications/foi-18-02655/ may have some of the  information you are looking for. 

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(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.

Reasons for not providing information

An exemption applies.

An exemption(s) under section(s) 30(b)(i) and 30(b)(ii) – free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This exemption was applied to communications from North Lanarkshire Council contacting the GIRFEC team regarding a media enquiry in September 2018 giving the team the opportunity to prepare required lines for a response.

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.