Gaelic Schools, Scots Language Spend, Angus Robertson's Brussels Trip and Hadja Labib Correspondence: FOI release

Information requested

1. How many standalone Gaelic schools have been opened in Scotland since 2018?

-Could you supply all documentation held relating to this between June 2022 and June 2023?

2. How much has the Scottish Government spent on Scots language training courses and breakdown of this spend?

3. Could you supply the full expenses and receipts, including from staff, from Angus Robertson's trip to Brussels between Jan 23 and Jan 29 2024?

4. Could you supply all documentation related to this trip, including correspondence sent and received, including internally, minutes from meetings, briefings, and notes about the trip?

5. Could you supply all correspondence between Angus Robertson and Hadja Lahbib, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs or his office, between January 23 2024 and the date of this FOI?

Response

Standalone Gaelic Schools

The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because there have not been any stand alone Gaelic Schools opened in Scotland since 2018. Due to this, there is also not any documentation between June 2022 and June 2023 relating to the opening of Stand alone Gaelic Schools in Scotland since 2018. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

Scots Language Training Courses Spend

The only spend by the Scottish Government on Scots language training courses in 2024 has been to the Open University for the Scots language CPD Course. £22,200 was provided by the Scottish Government for this.

Angus Robertson's Trip to Brussels

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under section 14(2) of FOISA a public authority is not required to comply with a request for information if it is identical or substantially similar to a request which it has already complied with, unless a reasonable amount of time has elapsed between the two requests. Requests 3 & 4 are substantially similar to your previous request which we complied with on 23 April 2024. The Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance on repeated requests at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/FOISA-EIRsGuidance/Section14/Section14Overview.aspx says that in considering whether a reasonable period of time has elapsed between the previous request and the new request, there are two questions which will help the authority:

(i) has the information changed?

(ii) have the circumstances changed?

In this case, the information we hold is the same as at the time of your previous request. We have also considered the circumstances and have concluded that there has been no significant change.

For these reasons, we consider that your request is repeated and we are not obliged to comply with it.

Angus Robertson and Hadja Labib Correspondence
The Scottish Government does not have the information you have asked for because after searching our record management system we could not find any relevant correspondence within the scope of your question. This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

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.