Teacher number communications between the Scottish Government and councils: FOI release

Information requested

When the teacher census was published in December it showed that 17 councils had failed to maintain or increase teacher numbers. Jenny Gilruth told the Scottish parliament’s education committee in January there had been “a significant fall in teacher numbers in four or five authorities” and that the government had “asked all those authorities for an explanation as to why that might be the case”.

-I would like copies of all communication regarding teacher numbers between the government and the councils where teacher numbers fell, as shown in the teacher census published in December.

-I would also like all communication between government officials and ministers this year about teacher numbers – in particular I am interested in any communications about whether or not to hold back funding from the councils where teacher numbers fell (as shown in the 2023 teacher census published in December).

-I would like details of how much funding each of the 17 councils where teacher numbers fell stand to lose if the government decides not to pay out because they have not delivered on the commitment to maintain/increase teacher numbers.

For context: teacher numbers fell, according to the 2023 teacher census, in 17 council areas

Jenny Gilruth told the Scottish Parliament’s education, children and young people committee in January that £145.5 million of additionality had been “baked into the local government settlement that was meant to be for additional teachers”. She said she retained the right to “recoup” some of that funding from councils where teacher numbers fell. She said the funding was administered in such a way that some of it was held back so that if teacher numbers fell it would not be paid out.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested.

With regard to part 1 of your enquiry, letters of 12 December 2023 were issued to fifteen local authorities. These authorities were: Aberdeenshire, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eileanan Siar, East Ayrshire, Fife, Glasgow City, Highland, Inverclyde, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Shetland Islands and West Dunbartonshire.

These letters, and responses received, can be found in the attached Index of Enclosures – Annex A.

With regard to part 2 of your enquiry, while our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the costs of locating, retrieving and providing the information requested would exceed the upper cost limit of £600. Under section 12 of FOISA public authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying would exceed the upper cost limit.

You may wish to consider reducing the scope of your request in order that the costs can be brought below £600. For example, you could further refine the subject matter you are interested in or restrict your request to a specific business area of the Scottish Government, as this would allow us to limit the searches that would require to be conducted.

You may also find it helpful to look at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s ‘Tips for requesting information under FOI and the EIRs’ at:
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourRights/Tipsforrequesters.aspx.

With regard to funding, the Scottish Government is committed to supporting the recruitment of teachers, and is providing local authorities with £145.5m in next year's budget to protect teacher numbers.

We were always clear with local authorities that, if teacher numbers were not maintained in the 2023 census, we reserved the right to withhold or recoup funding that had been allocated for this purpose. Despite the decrease evidenced in the 2023 teacher census, we have confirmed that we will not withhold funding as we do not wish to risk the delivery of services at this stage in the financial year.

We have informed local authorities that we will look to protect teacher numbers next year through issuing this funding in the form of grants. Local authorities will be required to commit to maintaining teacher numbers as part of these grant conditions.

With regard to part 3 of your enquiry, you will be aware that a decision has been taken not to apply financial sanctions this year. For your information, the Scottish Government’s expectations with regard to the £145.5 million, including funding details, were set out in a letter to each local authority on 9 February 2023.

This letter can be found in the attached Index of Enclosures – Annex B.

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 202400398822 - Information released - Annex A & B

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