Establishment of the Centre for Teaching Excellence: FOI release

Information requested

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request.

You asked for a range of information relating to the recent announcement by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills of a Centre for Teaching Excellence, including: consideration of the policy, decisionmaking, engagement/consultation, costings and role: and for communications related to these (both internal and external).

Response

Response to Request 1

You asked the following questions:

1. On what date was the establishment of the CTE first proposed?
2. Who initially proposed the policy and in what context (a meeting, an email exchange, a formal briefing, a report etc)?
3. On what date was the decision made to announce the establishment of the CTE?
4. How long does the government expect it to take to establish the Centre for Teaching Excellence?

Since her appointment, the Cabinet Secretary has indicated that excellence in teaching would be a key element of her agenda and has been discussing this in different fora with a range of stakeholders.

Advice was commissioned from officials on 22 September 2023 and a policy submission was provided to the Cabinet Secretary on 4 October 2023, with Ms Gilruth responding on 11 October 2023. The Cabinet Secretary set out her intention in relation to the Centre for Teaching Excellence on 15 October 2023.

The role and remit of the Centre, how it operates, its interaction with teachers and practitioners, performance measures, and associated costs and timescales will be considered as part of the co-design process.

Response to Request 2

You asked the following questions:

1. How much does the government expect it to cost to establish the Centre for Teaching Excellence? (NB this would include estimated figures, such as those calculated when decided whether or not to proceed with the policy, and should not be restricted only to formal, finalised cost projections)
2. How much does the government expect it to cost to run the Centre for Teaching Excellence on an annual basis? (NB this would include estimated figures, such as those calculated when decided whether or not to proceed with the policy, and should not be restricted only to formal, finalised cost projections)
3. How much government time has been spent on developing this proposal so far?

The role and remit of the Centre, how it operates, its interaction with teachers and practitioners, performance measures, and associated costs and timescales will be considered as part of the co-design process.

Since the initial request for advice on 22 September 2023, a number of officials have contributed to developing proposals for a Centre for Teaching Excellence. It is not possible to quantify exactly how much time has been spent on developing the proposals.

Response to Request 3

You asked the following questions:

1. Confirmation as to whether the government intends to have the CTE replace an existing body or whether it will be established in additional to existing bodies
2. Any available details showing the likely remit of the CTE and its likely relationship with other bodies (NB this would include planning and draft materials, such as those used when deciding whether not to proceed with the policy, and should not be restricted only to formal, finalised decisions on remit and relationships)

The Cabinet Secretary set out in a statement to Parliament on 7 November 2023 that she anticipated that the Centre will be hosted by a University, learning from the successful model of the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection better known as CELCIS.

The role and remit of the Centre, how it operates, its interaction with teachers and practitioners, performance measures, and associated costs and timescales will be considered as part of the co-design process. The Scottish Government remains committed to replacing Education Scotland with a new national education agency.

Correspondence and documentation relating to the establishment of the Centre for Teaching Excellence is included as an annex to this response.

Response to Request 4 and Request 5

You asked for the following:

1. Confirmation of any meetings or discussions held with external individuals or organisations regarding the CTE, or at which the CTE was discussed. Please provide dates, locations, attendees, and confirmation of whether or not each of the meetings were minuted.
2. Any communication between the government and external individuals or organisations regarding, referring or relating to the CTE.
3. All communication involving the Education Secretary, Special Advisers, press officers and officials regarding, referring or relating to the CTE. Please note that this includes communication regarding the response to the announcement, including the handling of the press request that I sent on 18/10/2023 from the email address jmcemedia@gmail.com to Daniel Morrow.

At the time of your request, no formal meetings had been held with external individuals or organisations regarding the Centre for Teaching Excellence.

At the time of your request, Scottish Government officials had communicated with the following external individuals or organisations in relation to the Centre for Teaching Excellence:

• Policy Manager, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Professor of Education Policy, Glasgow University
• General Secretary, Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS)
• General Secretary, Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA)

In relation to the second part of this request, I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested as an annex to this response.

An exemption under section s.38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. 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.

Exemptions have also been applied to some of the information you requested, under the following sections of FOISA:

• Free and frank provision of advice (section 30(b)(i)).
• Free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation (section 30(b)(ii)).
• Formulation or development of government policy (section 29(1)(a)).
• Ministerial communications (section 29(1)(b)).

These exemptions are 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 exemptions in all of the cases.

We recognise that there is public interest in release of some of the information because stakeholders, including teachers, practitioners, and wider education and skills partners, will be interested in the policy options being considered as part of establishing a Centre for Teaching Excellence.

However, Ministers and officials must be able to explore all available options, and the risks, costs, and implications of such options, particularly during the initial stages of policy development where Ministerial decisions have not yet been made, nor – in the case of the Centre for Teaching Excellence – the co-design process initiated.

There is therefore a greater public interest in allowing officials the required space within which to develop and set out such options, as part of the process of exploring and refining government policy, before reaching a settled view. This private space is essential to enable all options to be properly considered so that good decisions can be taken based on fully informed advice and evidence.

Disclosure of early policy advice would be likely to undermine the full and frank discussion of issues between Scottish Government officials and Ministers in future, which in turn will undermine the quality of the decision making process, which would not be in the public interest.

About FOI

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.

FOI 202300381669 - Information Released - Annex

File type

PDF

File size

381.8 kB