Minutes and papers for Curriculum and Assessment Board meetings: FOI release

Information requested

The minutes and the papers for any Curriculum and Assessment Board meetings that have taken place since 1 October 2023.

Response

I enclose a copy of the information you requested.

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 of exemptions under: section 25(1) (information otherwise accessible), 27(1) (information intended for future publication) and 38(1)(b) (personal information) of FOISA applies to that information.

An exemption under Section 25(1) of FOISA exempts information from disclosure where the requester can reasonably obtain the information without making a request for it. It has a different focus from other exemptions. It is not about withholding the information from the public, but recognises that where information is already available to the requester, there is no need to provide an alternative right of access to it through FOISA.

The minutes of the September 2023 meeting of the Curriculum and Assessment Board (Enclosure 2) although not published at the date of the request, have now been published on the Scottish Government website:

• Curriculum and Assessment Board minutes: September 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Enclosures 7 & 8 are also available on the Scottish Government website:

• Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels 2022-23 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
• Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2022): Scotland's results - highlights - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

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.

An exemption under section 27(1) allows public authorities to refuse to disclose information if they already plan to publish it within the next 12 weeks, but only if it is reasonable to delay disclosing the information until the planned date of publication. This exemption is subject to the public interest test. This means that, even if the exemption applies, the information must be disclosed unless the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it. In the case of the minutes of the 30th January 2024 Curriculum and Assessment Board meeting, these will be cleared as an accurate reflection of the meeting at the next meeting of the Board and will be published subsequently to that, and therefore we consider that it is not in the public interest to release this information ahead of that clearance.

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, i.e. names and contact details, 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.

Please note, there was a problem with some hyperlinks in the papers issued to CAB on 24 January 2024. The relevant links are listed below:

Enclosure 3

• 10. “All Learners in Scotland Matter: Our National Discussion on Education”
• 23. Curriculum | Building Student Success – B.C. Curriculum (gov.bc.ca).

Enclosure 5

• 1. “Scottish Attainment Challenge Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress in 2022”
• 1. “an aggregation of local authorities’ core stretch aims was published in December 2022”
• 3. “Framework and the stretch aims process for 2023 onwards.”
• 5. “… a national picture which was published on 12 December 2023.”
• 10. “ Local authorities have now set stretch aims for 2025/26 in line with the guidance in the 2023 Framework for Recovery and Accelerating Progress.”

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 202400399030 - Information released - Attachment

File type

40 page PDF

File size

1.1 MB