The change of some Microsoft Office services through Glow: FOI release

Information requested

In your request of 10th July you quoted a response to the following request for comment from Scottish Government, regarding the loss of some Microsoft Office services through Glow:

“The loss of free Microsoft Office downloads is the result of an enforced change by Microsoft, announced in August last year. Since then, Education Scotland has been engaging closely with local authorities.”

You asked:

Under FOISA, please release all material held by the Scottish Government regarding this change. This should include briefings, analysis, records of meetings, minutes, copies of communication and any other relevant information.

Response

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested in the form of one email. This is from the period 14 July 2023 to 10 July 2024. Redacted information relates to Personal info exemption * s.38(1)(a).

There is very limited correspondence held by Scottish Government.

Whilst Glow is funded by the Scottish Government, Glow is delivered and managed by Education Scotland via Local Authorities.

Because local authorities are ultimately responsible for education, including decisions around which technologies to deploy to what effect, it is worth stating that Education Scotland has no direct relationship with Glow users in local authorities (primarily learners, teachers and other school staff) – that responsibility for this lies with local authorities themselves, as does responsibility to assess the local impact of any change.

However, Education Scotland does engage with local authorities ‘Glow Key Contacts’ to ensure they are acting in accordance with their responsibilities. We are aware that Education Scotland did make key contacts aware of this issue on a regular basis from as early as August 2023 when Microsoft announced a number of changes to their free licence offers.

About FOI

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

FOI 202400422097 - Information Released - Annex

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