The Nicolson Institute, documents relating to bullying: FOI release

FOI reference: FOI/18/03794  
Date received: 24 December 2018 
Date responded: 28 January 2019

 

 

Any and all documents regarding the Nicolson Institute and any interaction or mentioning of bullying and the documents relating to how they dealt with it.

 

 

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information requested because exemption under section 38(1)(b), personal information of FOISA applies to some of the information requested.

Exemption 30(c), otherwise prejudice to the conduct of public affairs also applies to some correspondence between the Scottish Government and the local authority.
The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained below.

Additionally, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested as it was not supplied to us initially. This is a formal notification under section 17(1) that we do not hold all of the information you have requested. For further information you should contact the other respondents organisations with individual FOI requests.

 

 

Section 38(1)(b) - personal information

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 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.

Section 30(c) - substantial prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs.

An exemption under section 30(c) of FOISA (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs) applies to some of the information requested. Disclosing this information would substantially prejudice our ability to conduct our public duties. If such correspondence were to be released this would damage the effective working relationships between the two public bodies and inhibit their ability to perform their functions. This would constitute substantial prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs in terms of the exemption.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. On balance it better serves the public interest to withhold this information to preserve the necessary working arrangements in place between the Scottish Government and the local authority. It is not necessarily about the sensitivity of this particular information but the impact of the release of it on the future working arrangements required in order to ensure the two bodies can share sensitive information in line with their different regulatory duties.

 

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